THE   BLOT 

ON  THE 

KAISER'S  *SCUTCHE01 


NEWELL 
DWIGHT 
HILLIS 


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The  Blot  On 
The  Kaiser's  'Scutcheon 


By 
NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS,  D.D. 

Author  of  *' German  Atrocities,"  etc. 


New     York  Chicago 

Fleming     H.     Revell     Company 
London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1918,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


Uniform  with  this  Volume 

German  Atrocities 

By  NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS 
Illus.,  Cloth,  Si. 00  net 

A  Million  and  a  Half 
Extracts  from  this  hook 
have  been  issued  hy  the 
Liberty   Loan    Committee! 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      75     Princes    Street 


Contents 

I.  The  Arch-Criminal    .        .         .11 

1.  The  Kaiser's  Hatred  of  the  United 
States. 

2.  The  Kaiser's  Character  Revealed 
in  His  Choosing  the  Sultan  for  His 
friend. 

3.  Pershing's  Charges  versus  the 
Kaiser. 

4.  Who  Taught  the  Kaiser  That  a 
Treaty  Is  a  Scrap  of  Paper  ? 

5.  The  Plot  of  the  Kaiser. 

II.  The  Judas  Among  Nations        .       31 

1.  The  Original  Plot  of  the  Members 
of  the  Potsdam  Gang. 

2.  The  Berlin  Schemers  and  Their 
Plot. 

3.  German  Superiority  a  Myth  That 
Has  Exploded. 

4.  German  Intrigues. 

5.  German  Burglars  Loaded  with  Loot 
Are  the  More  Easily  Captured. 

6.  Germans  Who  Hide  Behind  the 
Screen. 

7.  Must  German  Men  Be  Extermi- 
nated ? 

III.  The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun       .       60 

I.  German  Barbarism  Not  Barbarism 
to  the  German. 

7 


Contents 

2.  The  German  "  Science  of  Lying." 

3.  The  Malignity  of  the  German  Spies. 

4.  The  Cancer  in  the  Body -Politic  of 
Germany. 

5.  Polygamy  and  the  Collapse  of  the 
Family  in  Germany. 

6.  The    Red- Hot    Swords   in    Sister 
Julie's  Eyes. 

7.  The     Hidden     Dynamite  :     The 
Hun's  Destruction  of  Cathedrals. 

8.  The  German  Sniper  Who  Hid  Be- 
hind the  Crucifix. 

9.  The  Ruined  Studio. 

10.     Was  This  Murder  Justified? 

IV.  In  France  the  Immortal  !   .        .98 

I.     The  Glory  of  the  French  Soldier's 

Heroism, 
1.     Why  the  Hun  Cannot  Defeat  the 

Frenchman. 

3.  "I  Am  Only  His  Wife." 

4.  A  Soldier's  Funeral  in  Paris. 

5.  The  Old  Book-Lover  of  Louvain. 

6.  A  Vision  of  Judgment  in  Martyred 
Gerbeviller. 

7.  The  Return  of  the  Refugees. 

8.  An  American  Knight  in  France. 

9.  An    American   Soldier's  Grave  in 
France. 

10.  "  These  Flowers,  Sir,  I  Will  Lay 
Them  Upon  My  Son's  Grave." 

11.  The  Courage  of  Clemenceau. 

V.  Our  British  Allies     .         .         .132 

I.     "  Gott  Strafe  England" — "And 
Scotland." 


Contents 

2.  "  England  Must  Not  Starve." 

3.  German-Americans     Who     Vilify 
England. 

4.  British  vs.  American  Girls  in  Mu- 
nition Factories. 

5.  The  Wolves'  Den  on  Vimy  Ridge. 

6.  "  Why    Did    You    Leave    Us    in 
Hell  for  Two  Years  ?  " 

7.  "This    War    Will    End    Within 
Forty  Years." 

8.  "  Why    Are  We   Outmanned  By 
the  Germans  ? " 

VI.     "Over  Here"  .  .164 

1.  The  Redemption  of  a  Slacker. 

2.  Slackers  versus  Heroes. 

3.  German  Stupidity  in  Avoiding  the 
Draft. 

4.  "  I'm  Working  Now    for   Uncle 
Sam." 

5.  The  German  Farmer's  Debt  to  the 
United  States. 

6.  "  Sharper  Than  a  Serpent's  Tooth  " 
Is  an  Ungrateful  Immigrant. 

7.  In  Praise  of  Our  Secret  Service. 


Publisher's  Explanatory  Note 

These  brief  articles  are  sparks  struck  as  it  were 
from  the  anvil  of  events.  They  were  written  on 
trains,  in  hotels,  in  the  intervals  between  public 
addresses.  During  the  past  year  beginning  Oc- 
tober I,  19 1 7,  Dr.  Hillis,  in  addition  to  his 
work  in  Plymouth  Church,  and  as  President  of 
The  Plymouth  Institute,  has  visited  no  less  than 
one  hundred  and  sixty-two  cities,  and  made  some 
four  hundred  addresses  on  "  The  National  Crisis," 
"  How  Germany  Lost  Her  Soul,"  "  TheThilos- 
ophy  of  the  German  Atrocities,"  and  "  The  Pan- 
German  Empire  Plot,"  the  substance  of  these 
lectures  and  addresses  being  given  in  the  book, 
"  German  Atrocities,"  heretofore  published. 
These  articles  are  illustrative  of  and  supplemen- 
tary to  the  principles  stated  in  that  volume. 

While  consenting  to  publication,  the  author 
was  not  afforded  opportunity  for  full  revision  of 
this  second  volume,  being  again  called  over-seas 
just  as  this  book  was  being  put  into  type.  This 
will  account  for  the  form  in  which  the  material 
appears. 


THE 
ARCH-CRIMINAL 


1.     The  Kaiser's  Hatred  of  the  United 
States 

IT  is  a  proverb  that  things  done  in  secret 
soon  or  late  are  published  from  the  house- 
tops. 

Certainly  everything  that  Avas  hidden  as 
to  the  plots  of  the  Potsdam  gang  is,  little  by 
little,  now  being  revealed. 

Nothing  illustrates  this  fact  better  than 
that  volume  published  in  Leipsic  in  1907, 
called  "  Reminiscences  of  Ten  Years  in  the 
German  Embassy  in  Washington,  D.  C." 

When  that  aged  diplomat  published  the 
story  of  his  diplomatic  career  he  doubtless 
thought  that  the  volume  prepared  for  his 
children  and  grandchildren  and  friends  was 
forever  buried  in  the  German  language.  It 
never  even  occurred  to  the  Councillor  of  the 
Ambassador,  von  HoUeben,  that  the  book 
would  ever  fall  into  the  hands  of  any  Amer- 
ican. The  very  fact  that  an  American 
II 


The  Arch-Criminal 

author  found  the  volume  in  a  second-hand 
bookstore  of  Vienna  in  1914  and  translated 
the  three  chapters  on  the  Kaiser's  represent- 
atives in  the  United  States  and  the  organ- 
ization of  the  German- American  League,  must 
have  roused  the  Foreign  Department  in 
Berlin  to  the  highest  point  of  anger. 

Children  and  diplomats  oftentimes  uncon- 
sciously betray  the  most  important  secrets. 
No  volume  ever  published  could  possibly 
have  revealed  matters  of  greater  moment  to 
Germany  than  this  volume  of  reminiscences 
that  sets  forth  the  propaganda  carried  on  in 
the  United  States  by  Ambassador  von  Hol- 
leben  and  his  legal  councillor  for  the  further- 
ing of  the  Pan-German  Empire  scheme. 

No  scholar  can  doubt  the  right  of  this  old 
diplomat  to  speak.  The  Kaiser  personally 
vouched  for  him  by  giving  him  this  impor- 
tant duty.  The  honours  bestowed  at  the  end 
of  his  long  diplomatic  career  tell  their  own 
story.  Every  page  breathes  sincerity  and 
truthfulness.  No  one  who  reads  this  volume 
can  doubt  that  this  author  gave  the  exact 
facts — facts  well  known  to  his  German 
friends — in  the  recollections  of  his  diplomatic 
career. 

This  diplomat  tells  us  plainly  that  von 

12 


Hatred  of  the  United  States 

HoUeben  and  himself  were  sent  to  the 
United  States  specially  charged  with  the 
task  of  reuniting  Germans  who  were  natural- 
ized in  America  with  the  German  Empire. 

It  was  their  duty  to  organize  secret  Ger- 
man-American societies  in  every  great  city 
like  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  Chicago  and 
Milwaukee,  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis,  and  to 
present  to  these  societies  a  German  flag  sent 
from  the  hands  of  the  Kaiser  himself. 

Their  work,  says  the  author,  was  based 
upon  the  fact  that  the  Kaiser  had  passed  a 
law  restoring  full  citizenship  in  Germany  to 
those  Germans  who  had  become  naturalized 
citizens  of  the  United  States.  When,  there- 
fore, these  members  of  the  German- American 
League  formally  accepted  their  restored 
citizenship  their  first  duty  was  to  the  Father- 
land and  the  Kaiser  and  their  second  duty 
to  the  United  States  and  its  Government. 
Indeed,  this  lawyer  and  author  actually  goes 
so  far  as  to  give  extracts  from  von  Hol- 
leben's  speech  before  the  German- American 
League  in  Chicago  when  he  presented  the 
society  with  a  German  flag  and  swore  the 
members  to  the  old-time  allegiance. 

He  says  that  in  some  way  the  editor  of 
the  Chicago  Tribune  found  out  about  this 
13 


The  Arch-Criminal 

meeting  and  wrote  a  very  severe  editorial, 
after  which,  he  adds,  that  von  Holleben  and 
himself  had  to  be  more  careful. 

Concerning  the  Milwaukee  meeting,  he  re- 
fers to  a  conversation  which  revealed  his 
judgment  that  if  ever  there  was  trouble  be- 
tween Germany  and  the  United  States  the 
war  would  partake  of  the  nature  of  a  civil 
war.  The  author  not  only  gives  an  account  of 
the  conference  held  at  the  Waldorf-Astoria  be- 
tween Ambassador  von  Holleben,  Professors 
Munsterberg  of  Harvard  and  Schoenfield  of 
Columbia  and  himself,  on  the  one  side,  and 
Herman  Ridder  on  the  other,  but  he  gives 
the  instructions  from  Berlin  that  Herr 
Ridder  could  only  keep  his  subsidy  from  the 
German  Government  for  the  New  Yorker 
Staats  Zeitung  by  placing  his  fealty  to  Ger- 
many first  and  subordinating  his  American- 
ism, and  that  otherwise  Ambassador  von 
Holleben  would  found  a  rival  German  paper 
that  would  have  back  of  it  "  unlimited  re- 
sources, to  wit :  the  total  resources  of  the 
German  Empire." 

Here,  then,  is  proof  positive  that  the 
Kaiser  began  his  efforts  to  establish  a  pro- 
German  movement  against  the  United 
States  for  several  years  before  1906  and 
14 


Hatred  of  the  United  States 

that  he  methodically  kept  it  up  until  the  war 
began. 

Through  it  all  he  claimed  to  be  our  sincere 
friend ;  but  he  was  then,  as  he  is  to-day,  an 
implacable  and  relentless  enemy,  with  a 
heart  laden  with  hatred  and  bitterness. 


2.  The  Kaiser's  Character  Revealed  in 
His  Choosing  the  Sultan  for  His 
Friend 

Nothing  tests  manhood  like  the  choice  of 
a  bosom-friend.  Criminals  choose  bad  as- 
sociates. 

Every  Black  Hand  leader  goes  naturally 
towards  the  saloon,  the  gambling  house  and 
the  dens  where  thieves  congregate.  Dickens 
made  Fagin  surround  himself  with  pick- 
pockets, burglars  and  murderers. 

History  tells  us  that  Christianity  has  al- 
ways kept  good  company.  Its  friends  have 
been  architects,  artists,  poets  and  statesmen. 
Christianity  repeats  itself  through  its  friends 
in  the  Gothic  Cathedral  shaped  in  the  form 
of  the  cross,  in  the  Transfiguration  of 
Raphael,  the  Duomo  of  Giotto,  the  Paradise 
Lost  of  Milton,  the  In  Memoriam  of  Tenny- 
son, the  Emancipation  Proclamation  of  Lin- 
15 


The  Arch-Criminal 

coin.  Christianity  has  never  formed  any 
close  friendships  with  jails,  gallows  or  slave 
ships.  Men  like  Gladstone  and  Lincoln  al- 
ways kept  good  company  ;  their  friends  have 
been  scholars  and  heroes ;  but,  in  striking 
contrast,  consider  the  friends  selected  by  the 
Kaiser. 

To  the  Kaiser  came  a  critical  hour ;  at 
that  moment  he  was  at  the  parting  of  the 
ways.  It  became  necessary  for  him  to  make 
a  choice  of  friends.  Like  every  man,  his  iso- 
lation was  impossible  and  friendship  became 
a  necessity. 

The  Kaiser  had  the  w^hole  world  from 
which  to  choose.  Yonder  in  London  were 
King  Edward  and  his  son,  the  Prince  of 
"Wales.  In  France  were  certain  statesmen 
and  scientists  like  Curie.  There  was  the  old 
hero  living  in  the  capital  of  Japan  and  two 
ex-Presidents  known  the  world  around  for 
their  splendid  manhood  ;  and  he  could  have 
made  overtures  of  friendship  to  any  one  of 
these  brave  men ;  but  in  the  silence  of  the 
night  the  Kaiser  passed  in  review  earth's 
great  men,  and  finally  selected  for  his  close 
friend  the  lowest  of  the  low — the  butcher, 
unspeakable  butcher — the  Sultan  of  Turkey. 

At  that  time  the  Sultan  had  just  com- 
i6 


Choosing  the  Sultan  for  His  Friend 

pleted  the  butchery  of  many  Armenians. 
His  garments  ^ere  red  with  blood,  his  hands 
dripped  with  gore.  His  house  was  a  harem  ; 
his  hand  held  a  dagger.  The  sea-wall  be- 
hind his  palace  rose  out  of  the  blue  waters 
of  the  Bosporus. 

"When  an  American  battle-ship  was  an- 
chored there  and  a  diver  went  down  he 
pulled  a  rope  and  was  brought  up,  shiver- 
ing with  terror,  and  saying  that  he  found 
himself  surrounded  with  corpses  tied  in 
sacks  and  held  down  by  stones  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  sea. 

In  that  hour  the  Kaiser  exclaimed  :  "  Let 
the  Sultan  be  my  associate !  I  will  go  to 
Constantinople  and  sign  a  treaty  with  the 
unspeakable  butcher." 

And  so  the  Kaiser  took  his  train,  lived  in 
the  Sultan's  palace,  signed  this  treaty,  and 
hired  the  Sultan's  knife  and  club,  just  as  the 
Chief  Priest  Annas  chose  Judas  to  be  his 
representative  upon  whom  he  could  load  the 
responsibility  for  the  murder  of  Jesus. 

Never  was  a  friendship  more  damnable. 
Keared  in  a  country  that  believed  in  the 
sanctity  of  the  marriage  relation  and  in 
monogamy,  the  Kaiser  lined  up  with  polyg- 
amy. The  treaty  that  he  made  was  thor- 
17 


The  Arch-Criminal 

oughgoing.  He  sent  out  word  to  all  Mo- 
hammedans, whether  they  lived  in  India  or 
Persia,  in  Arabia  or  Turkey,  that  they  must 
remember  that  the  Kaiser  had  entered  into  a 
treaty  to  become  their  protector  and  friend. 
Having  become  a  Lutheran  in  Berlin,  he 
became  a  Mohammedan  in  Constantinople 
on  the  principle  that  "  When  you  are  in 
Rome  do  as  the  Romans  do,  and  when  you 
are  in  hell  act  like  the  devil" — a  simple 
principle  which  the  Kaiser  proceeded  to  obey 
as  soon  as  he  reached  Constantinople. 

Every  one  knew  that  the  Kaiser  wanted 
to  build  a  German  railroad  through  to  Bag- 
dad and  the  Persian  Gulf;  this  would  give 
him  an  outlet  for  surplus  goods  to  be  sold  in 
India.  Serbia  lay  straight  across  the  path, 
and  he  had  to  work  out  some  scheme  to 
attack  Serbia.  Then  he  needed  the  Sultan's 
friendship,  and  the  end  justified  the  means — 
and  the  end  was  the  Bagdad  Railroad. 

But  the  Turk  tired  of  being  the  Kaiser's 
tool ;  he  wanted  more  land  ;  the  Armenian 
was  in  his  way  ;  the  Turk  was  lazy,  shiftless 
and  a  spendthrift.  The  Armenian  was  in- 
dustrious and  hard-working.  The  Turk's 
method  of  living  made  him  poor.  The  gifts 
of  the  Armenian  tended  towards  wealth. 
I8 


Choosing  the  Sultan  for  His  Friend 

Once  in  twenty  years  the  Turk  found  him- 
self a  pauper  and  found  the  Armenian  rich  ; 
the  result  was  envy  and  covetousness  on  the 
part  of  the  Sultan  and  his  people.  It  be- 
came necessary  to  bribe  the  Turk  to  stand 
by  the  Kaiser  and  his  Bagdad  Railroad. 
The  Kaiser's  German  officers,  therefore,  fur- 
nished the  bribe. 

"  Let  us  go  to  this  Armenian  village,  or 
that,  and  kill  the  people.  We  German  of- 
ficers will  take  the  large  houses  of  the  rich 
merchants  and  move  into  them,  and  your 
Turkish  soldiers  can  kill  the  old  men,  use  the 
Armenian  girls  for  the  harem,  and  fling  the 
little  children's  bodies  into  pits  digged  in  the 
garden  behind  the  house.  We  will  enter 
the  village  in  the  morning  as  soldiers ;  when 
the  night  comes,  as  Germans  and  Turks,  we 
will  be  the  only  people  living  in  the  Arme- 
nian village,  and  we  will  move  into  their 
stores  and  take  possession  of  their  houses 
and  their  looms." 

"  You  cannot  hang  an  entire  nation,"  said 
Edmund  Burke.  "You  must  arrest  the 
leaders  and  hang  them."  Burke  was  right 
as  to  the  punishment  of  criminals,  but  he 
was  wrong  when  it  comes  to  murdering  in- 
dustrious and  honest  Armenians.  You  can 
19 


The  Arch-Criminal 

murder  an  entire  nation,  for  the  Germans 
and  the  Turks  have  practically  done  it. 
Ambassador  Morgenthau  has  just  said  that 
the  Kaiser  and  the  Sultan  through  their 
forces  have  murdered  nearly  a  million  Ar- 
menians. But,  soon  or  late,  remorse  and 
conscience  w^ill  take  hold  upon  these  two  un- 
speakable butchers  with  hands  that  drip  with 
blood— the  butcher  Kaiser,  the  butcher  Sul- 
tan, that  represent  earth's  two  murderous 
twins. 


3.     Pershing's  Charges  versus  the  Kaiser 

Nothing  measures  a  man  so  accurately  as 
the  names  he  gives  to  his  favourite  son. 
Most  significant,  therefore,  is  the  fact  that 
the  Kaiser  named  his  second  son  Eitel, 
or  Attila.  Who  was  this  Attila  who  has 
captured  the  imagination  of  the  Kaiser  ? 
He  was  a  Hun  who  devastated  Italy  fif- 
teen hundred  years  ago.  The  motto  of 
this  black-hearted  murderer  Attila  the  Hun 
was:  "Where  my  feet  fall,  let  grass  not 
grow  for  a  hundred  years."  When  the 
Kaiser  read  Attila's  story  he  exclaimed : 
"  That  is  the  man  for  me  !  "  First,  he  named 
his  favourite  son  for  Attila  the  Hun.  Sec- 
20 


Pershing's  Charges  versus  the  Kaiser 

ond,  in  sending  his  German  soldiers  out  to 
China,  and  later  in  1914  to  Belgium,  he  gave 
them  this  charge:  "You  will  take  no  pris- 
oners ;  you  will  show  no  mercy ;  you  will 
give  no  quarter ;  you  will  make  yourselves  as 
terrible  as  the  Huns  under  Attila."  Plainly 
the  Kaiser  knew  his  men.  He  knew  that 
they  were  capable  of  outdoing  even  that 
monster  Attila  the  Hun.  So  he  sent  them 
forth  to  bayonet  babes,  violate  old  women, 
murder  old  men,  crucify  officers,  violate  nuns, 
sink  Lusitanias,  and  turn  solemn  treaties  into 
scraps  of  paper. 

Now  over  against  the  Kaiser's  charge, 
black  as  hell,  and  big  with  death,  witness 
Pershing's  charge,  reported  loosely  by  a 
French  boy,  with  his  imperfect  knowledge 
of  English,  translated  out  of  the  French 
newspapers  on  July  18,  1917.  Pershing's 
brief  address  comes  to  this : 

"  Young  soldiers  of  America,  you  are  here 
in  France  to  help  expel  an  invading  enemy ; 
but  you  are  also  here  to  lift  a  shield  above 
the  poor  and  weak;  you  will  safeguard  all 
property ;  you  will  lift  a  shield  above  the 
aged  and  oppressed ;  you  will  be  most  cour- 
teous to  women,  gentle  and  kind  to  little 
children  ;  guard  against  temptation  of  every 

21 


The  Arch-Criminal 

kind;  fear  God,  fight  bravely,  defend  Lib- 
erty, honour  your  native  land.  God  have 
you  in  His  keeping."     "  Pershing." 

The  difiference  between  yonder  lowest  hell 
in  its  uttermost  abyss  and  yonder  highest 
heaven,  where  standeth  the  throne  of  a  just 
God,  is  not  greater  than  the  chasm  that  sep- 
arates that  unspeakable  butcher,  the  Kaiser, 
from  General  Pershing  and  the  American 
soldier  boys,  who  have  never  betrayed  in 
France,  the  noblest  ideals  of  service  cherished 
by  the  people  of  the  American  Kepubiic. 


4.     Who    Taught    the    Kaiser   That   a 
Treaty  Is  a  Scrap  of  Paper? 

Each  month  of  this  war  clears  away 
some  clouds  and  reveals  Germany  as  wholly 
given  over  to  crime  and  treachery.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  invasion  of  Belgium, 
the  Kaiser  spoke  of  his  treaty  safeguarding 
the  neutrality  of  that  little  land  as  a  "  scrap 
of  paper."  At  the  moment  no  one  seems  to 
have  realized  whence  the  Kaiser  had  that 
cynical  expression.  ]N"ow  the  whole  dam- 
nable story  has  been  made  clear.  Twenty- 
five  years  ago  the  Kaiser,  in  one  of  his 
addresses,  used  these  words : 
22 


A  Scrap  of  Paper 

"  From  my  childhood  I  have  been  under 
the  influence  of  five  men — Alexander,  Julius 
Caesar,  Theodoric  II,  Napoleon  and  Fred- 
erick the  Great.  These  five  men  dreamed 
their  dream  of  a  world  empire ;  they  failed. 
I  am  dreaming  my  dream  of  a  world  empire, 
but  I  shall  succeed." 

Now  why  did  the  Kaiser  over  and  over 
again  proclaim  his  allegiance  to  Frederick 
the  Great  ?  How  is  it  that  he  celebrates  his 
ancestor,  Frederick  ?  This  "  scrap  of  paper  " 
incident  makes  it  all  quite  clear.  The  bitter 
waters  gushing  out  of  the  Potsdam  Palace 
go  back  to  a  bitter  spring  named  Frederick 
the  Great.  The  poisoned  fruit  that  ripened 
in  1914:  hangs  on  a  bough  whose  trunk  was 
planted  by  Frederick  in  far-off  days. 

Among  many  musty  old  German  books 
recently  published  is  a  little  book  by  that 
same  Frederick.  The  Prussian  king  was 
writing  certain  notes  for  the  guidance  of  his 
sons  and  successors,  among  whom  is  the 
present  Kaiser.  In  his  page  of  counsels 
Frederick  talks  very  plainly  about  the 
breaking  of  treaties : 

"  Consider  a  treaty  as  a  scrap  of  paper 
under  any  one  of  the  following  emergencies : 
First,  when  necessity  compels  it.  Second, 
23 


The  Arch-Criminal 

when  you  lack  means  to  continue  the  -war. 
Third,  when  you  cannot  by  any  other  means 
combat  your  ally  or  enem3^" 

Then  Frederick  raises  one  question :  "  If 
the  interests  of  your  army  or  your  people  or 
yourself  are  at  stake  or  you  have  to  keep 
your  word  on  one  hand  and  your  pledge 
word  and  treaty  is  on  the  other  hand,  which 
path  will  you  take?  Who  can  be  stupid 
enough  to  hesitate  in  answering  this  ques- 
tion ?  In  other  words,  treaties  are  to  be 
kept  when  they  promote  your  interest,  and 
shamelessly  broken  when  you  gain  thereby." 

The  Kaiser,  therefore,  had  from  Frederick, 
his  ancestor,  this  handbook  on  lying.  In 
turn,  the  Kaiser  gave  this  notion  of  the 
treaty  as  a  scrap  of  paper  to  his  Chancel- 
lor, Bethmann-Hollweg,  who  engraved,  as 
has  been  said,  "on  eternal  brass  the  in- 
famy of  Germany " :  "  We  are  now  in  a 
state  of  necessity,  and  necessity  knows  no 
law.  We  were  compelled  to  override  the 
the  just  protest  of  Luxembourg  and  Belgian 
Governments.  The  wrong— I  speak  openly 
— that  we  are  committing  we  will  endeavour 
to  make  good  as  soon  as  our  military  goal 
has  been  reached.  Anybody  who  is  threat- 
ened, as  we  are  threatened,  and  who  is  fight- 
24 


A  Scrap  of  Paper 

ing  for  his  highest  possessions,  can  have  only 
one  thought,  how  he  is  to  hack  his  way 
through." 

Guizot  mentions  "honour  and  fidelity  to 
the  pledged  word  "  as  one  of  the  distinguish- 
ing elements  of  what  is  called  "  a  civilized 
State."  But  this  puts  Germany  among  the 
barbarous  savages.  Three  indictments  and 
convictions  have  blackened  the  name  of 
Germany  throughout  all  the  W'Orld.  First, 
her  atrocious  and  dishonourable  methods  of 
warfare ;  second,  the  carrying  off  into 
slavery  of  non-combatants,  the  Belgians  and 
French,  and  third,  the  breach  of  the  pledged 
word  and  the  solemn  treaties  with  other 
nations. 

But  at  last  we  know  that  Frederick  the 
Great,  the  ancestor  of  the  Kaiser,  was  the 
author  of  the  phrase,  "  the  treaty  is  a  scrap 
of  paper."  What  was  once  in  the  gristle  in 
the  ancestor  is  now  bred  in  the  bone  of  the 
Kaiser  and  Crown  Prince.  That  phrase,  "  a 
scrap  of  paper,"  holds  the  germ  of  a  thousand 
wars.  It  spells  the  ruin  of  civilization.  Not 
to  resent  it  by  war,  is  for  the  Allies  to  com- 
mit spiritual  suicide. 


25 


The  Arch-Criminal 

5.  The  Plot  of  the  Kaiser 
All  the  pamphlets  issued  secretly  to  the 
members  of  the  Pan-German  League  in- 
variably used  Eome  as  theu'  illustration. 
We  are  not  surprised,  therefore,  to  find  that 
the  German  leaders  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  it  took  two  wars  at  inter- 
vals of  some  years  to  make  Kome  a  world 
empire. 

In  like  manner,  therefore,  the  Kaiser  and 
his  Cabinet  told  the  German  people  at  home 
and  abroad  that  the  first  war,  beginning  in 

1914,  would  establish  a  Middle-Europe  Em- 
pire extending  from  Hamburg  on  the  North 
Sea  to  Bagdad  on  the  Persian  Gulf. 

One  of  the  pamphlets  issued  many  years 
ago  fixed  the  countries  to  be  conquered  about 

1915,  and  distinctly  mentioned  Denmark, 
Holland,  Belgium  and  North  France,  Poland 
and  Rumania,  Hungary  and  Austria,  Serbia 
and  Bulgaria,  and  the  wheat  granaries  of 
Russia,  with  Turkey  and  Armenia. 

The  number  of  people  to  be  conquered  and 
included  after  the  first  war  was  fixed  at 
250,000,000. 

The  argument  states  that  it  will  take  but 
a  few  years  to  compact  this  Middle-Europe 
26 


The  Plot  of  the  Kaiser 

Empire  and  that  naturally  Great  Britain, 
Spain  and  Italy,  to  the  west,  with  Norway 
and  Sweden  to  the  north,  with  Italy  and 
Switzerland  to  the  south,  and  of  course 
Greece  and  Egypt  would,  from  time  to  time, 
as  crises  came,  fall  inevitably  into  Germany's 
hand.  Berlin,  as  the  world  capital,  should 
by  1920  be  the  magnet,  and  the  little  parti- 
cles of  iron,  named  the  Balkan  States,  would 
be  drawn  and  held  by  this  great  German 
magnet  in  Berlin, 

The  first  step  to  be  taken  and  the  first 
goal  to  be  reached  concerned,  of  course,  the 
English  Channel,  the  Dutch  cities  on  the 
mouth  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  iron  mines  of 
Northern  France.  "We  know  to  an  absolute 
certainty  all  the  details  of  this  plan. 

For  more  than  thirty  years  Germany  had 
been  organizing  her  army  ;  she  knew  every 
road,  inn,  bridge,  factory,  shop,  and  whole- 
sale store  in  Denmark  and  Holland,  Belgium 
and  France.  In  all  of  the  larger  ones  she 
had  German  agents  belonging  to  the  Pan- 
German  League  toiling  as  workmen  and 
every  detail  was  planned  out  in  advance. 

In  1910  General  von  Bissing,  one  of  the 
Raiser's  closest  friends,  was  sent  to  Brussels. 
For  years  he  spent  the  summer  months  ap- 
27 


The  Arch-Criminal 

parently  at  the  watering  places  near  The 
Hague  in  Holland  and  Ostend  in  Belgium, 
preparatory  to  the  hour  when  Germany 
would  seize  Belgium  and  he  assume  his  posi- 
tion as  Governor-General,  living  in  Brussels. 

Men  nearing  death  tell  the  truth.  In  Jan- 
uary of  1917  von  Bissing  prepared  a  memo- 
randum for  the  direction  of  Belgian  affairs 
in  His  Majesty's  name  and  according  to  his 
wish.  This  document  contains  the  medita- 
tions of  a  dying  man.  The  statements  he 
makes,  he  says,  contain  the  views  that  in- 
spired his  every  act  in  Belgium  during  his 
administration. 

In  his  last  will  and  testament  von  Bissing, 
in  the  spring  of  1917,  advises  the  German 
Government  in  Berlin  that  the  time  has  come 
to  throw  off  all  disguises.  He  says  that  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war  it  was  probably 
good  policy  to  deny  that  the  Government 
ever  intended  to  annex  Belgium,  but,  he  says, 
"  now  that  we  are  victorious  there  is  no 
reason  why  we  should  not  publish  to  the 
world  the  fact  that  we  never  intend  to  give 
up  one  foot  of  the  Belgian  sea-coast,  nor  one 
ton  of  the  Belgian  coal,  nor  one  acre  of  the 
French  iron  mines." 

He  says  plainly:  "The  annual  Belgian 
28 


The  Plot  of  the  Kaiser 

production  of  23,000,000  tons  of  coal  has 
given  us  a  monopoly  on  the  continent  which 
has  helped  to  maintain  our  vitality.  If  we 
do  not  hold  Belgium,  administer  Belgium  in 
future  for  our  interest  and  protect  Belgium 
by  force  of  arms,  our  trade  and  industry  will 
lose  the  positions  they  have  won  in  Belgium 
and  perhaps  will  never  recover  them." 

And  what  about  Dutch  cities  and  sea- 
ports ?  On  page  eighteen  of  General  von 
Bissing's  last  will  and  testament  he  adds : 

"  Our  frontier,  in  the  interest  of  our  sea 
power,  must  be  pushed  forward  to  the  sea." 
This  sentence  makes  it  perfectly  plain  that  a 
little  later  Germany  intends  to  incorporate 
Rotterdam  in  her  own  customs  union. 
"  Belgium  must  be  seized  and  held,  as  it  now 
is,  and  as  it  is  to-day  it  must  be  in  the  future. 
The  conquest  of  Belgium  has  simply  been 
forced  upon  us  by  the  necessities  of  German 
expansion." 

Von  Bissing,  however,  recognizes  the  diffi- 
culty of  annexing  Belgium  and  securing  the 
consent  of  the  members  who  shall  arrange 
the  treaty  of  peace  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
war,  and  this  is  his  decision  : 

"  Our  best  method,  therefore,  is  to  avoid, 
during  the  peace  negotiations,  all  discussion 
29 


The  Arch-Criminal 

about  the  form  of  the  annexation  and  to  ap- 
ply nothing  but  the  right  of  conquest. 
Plainly  Belgium's  King  can  never  consent  to 
abandon  his  sovereignty,  but  we  can  read  in 
Machiavelli  that  he  who  desires  to  take  pos- 
session of  a  country  will  be  compelled  to  re- 
move the  King  or  regent,  even  by  killing 
him." 

Von  Bissing  has  torn  off  all  masks.  He 
himself  states  that  he  is  speaking  for  the 
Kaiser,  as  his  most  trusted  friend  and  coun- 
sellor. Germany  intends,  therefore,  ulti- 
mately to  kill  King  Albert  of  Belgium,  and 
this  carries  with  it  that  the  Kaiser  and  his 
War  Staff  believe  they  have  the  right  to  kill 
any  King  or  President  who  happens  to  stand 
in  the  pathway  of  their  ambition.  Every 
lover  of  mankind  whose  heart  is  knitted  in 
with  the  poor  and  the  weak  will  understand 
what  that  editor  meant  the  other  day  when 
he  said : 

"  The  one  duty  of  the  hour,  therefore,  for 
America,  is  to  kill  Germans,  that  we  may 
keep  the  rest  of  the  world  from  being 
killed." 


30 


THE  JUDAS 
AMONG  NATIONS 

II 

1.     The  Original  Plot  of  the  Members 
of  the  Potsdam  Gang 

MANY  historic  meetings,  big  with  social 
disaster,  are  recorded  in  history.  "Wit- 
ness the  meeting  of  the  Athenian  judges  for 
the  killing  of  Socrates.  "Witness  the  coming 
together  of  the  priests  and  Judas  for  the 
piteous  tragedy  of  the  death  of  Jesus.  "Wit- 
ness that  midnight  meeting  of  the  conspira- 
tors in  Florence  for  the  burning  of  Sa- 
vonarola. Terrible  also  the  results  of  that 
meeting  in  the  Potsdam  Palace  in  1896  that 
culminated  in  the  Pan-German  Empire 
scheme. 

"What  began  as  a  spark  that  day  has  ended 
in  a  world  conflagration. 

In  retrospect  the  Kaiser  and  his  associates 
had  many  events  behind  them  to  encourage 
the  ambition  to  make  Berlin  a  world  capital, 
Kaiser  "Wilhelm  the  world  emperor  and  all 
the  other  nations  and  races  subject  peoples. 
31 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

Beginning  in  1860  with  thirty-five  millions 
of  people  and  only  fifteen  billions  of  dollars, 
Germany  had  climbed  to  greatness  upon  iron 
steps,  heated  hot  by  war.  Never  did  wars 
yield  so  large  a  return. 

The  war  with  Denmark  had  given  Ger- 
many the  Kiel  Harbour,  the  Kiel  Canal  and 
a  sea-coast  for  her  ships. 

The  war  with  Austria  had  given  Germany 
the  rich  coal  provinces  of  Central  Europe. 
The  war  with  France  had  given  Germany 
the  iron  mines  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 

And  here  for  the  next  war  were  Denmark 
and  Holland,  Belgium  and  northern  France 
— so  many  jewel  boxes  that  could  be  looted. 
To  the  eastward  were  Poland  with  her  coal 
mines,  Rumania  with  her  oil  fields  and  Russia 
with  her  wheat  granaries.  And  once  Central 
Europe  became  a  Middle-Europe  German 
Empire  there  was  no  reason  why  later  on 
Germany  should  not  extend  her  conquests  to 
Russia  on  the  east  and  England  on  the  west, 
and  then  to  ISTorth  and  South  America. 

It  was  a  great  scheme.  Never  was  prize 
so  rich.  Never  could  obstacles  be  so  easily 
swept  away.  To  make  Berlin  a  world- 
capital  and  Kaiser  Wilhelm  a  world-emperor 
only  two  things  were  needed. 
32 


The  Original  Plot  of  the  Potsdam  Gang 

Plainly  the  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to 
organize  the  Pan-German  Empire  League 
and  educate  the  leading  men  of  Germany 
— the  ship  owners,  bankers,  merchants  and 
manufacturers,  editors,  ministers,  priests  and 
university  professors. 

Local  branch  societies  were  organized  in 
all  the  large  German  towns  and  cities. 
Weekly  meetings  were  held,  papers  read  and 
reports  made.  Slowly  people  of  the  middle 
class  were  included  in  the  league.  Docu- 
ments marked  "  Secret  and  Confidential  " 
were  distributed,  setting  forth  the  details  of 
the  scheme. 

Full  reports  were  made  as  to  what  Ger- 
many could  make  by  seizing  the  fields  of 
Denmark,  the  cities  on  the  mouth  of  the 
Rhine  in  Belgium,  the  coal  and  iron  mines 
of  France,  Poland  and  Russia,  and  also  the 
undeveloped  resources  of  the  Yalley  of  the 
Euphrates. 

Careful  statements  were  prepared  as  to 
the  difficulties  that  must  be  surmounted,  but 
always  this  lure  was  held  out — that  the 
poorest  German  who  then  had  nothing, 
would  when  Germany  was  victorious  become 
a  landowner,  live  in  a  mansion  and  drive 
his  own  automobile.  Then  he  would  have 
33 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

Russians  and  Frenchmen  to  wait  upon  him, 
since  the  German  was  a  superman,  intended 
for  a  patrician,  while  all  other  races  were 
pigs,  intended  by  nature  to  be  bondsmen  and 
plebeians. 

"  The  rest  of  the  world  is  amassing  wealth, 
and  when  the  fruit  is  ripe  then  we  Germans 
will  pluck  it " — this  was  their  motto. 

Little  by  little  the  germ  of  world-ambition 
became  a  fever,  burning  in  the  soul  of  every 
German  at  home  or  abroad.  It  took  twenty 
years  to  thoroughly  inculcate  every  indi- 
vidual of  the  German  race  with  this  feverish 
ambition,  but  when  1914  came  every  Ger- 
man had  gone  over  to  the  Pan-German 
scheme  and  was  ready  to  die  for  it. 


2.     The  Berlin  Schemers  and  Their  Plot 

After  all  the  Germans  at  home  and  abroad 
understood  the  Pan-German  scheme  of  sedi- 
tious intrigue  in  foreign  countries  and  the 
vast  web  was  spun  and  thrown  out  over  all 
the  cities  and  continents  where  the  Kaiser's 
representatives  were  living,  the  second  thing 
to  be  done  was  to  make  the  plan  clear  by 
spreading  it  out  like  a  great  map.  The 
method  used,  therefore,  was  pictorial. 
34 


The  Berlin  Schemers  and  Their  Plot 

The  Department  of  Publicity  in  Berlin 
became  experts  on  geography.  They  began 
to  issue  illustrated  maps  so  that  the  rudest 
German  peasants  and  the  German  colonists 
living  in  Milwaukee  or  El  Paso,  in  Rio  Jane- 
iro or  Buenos  Aires,  in  Brussels  or  St.  Peters- 
burg, in  Melbourne  or  Calcutta,  could  easily 
understand  the  method  and  the  goal. 

Out  of  twenty  maps  issued  in  Berlin  and 
reproduced  by  Andre  Cheredame,  no  one  is 
more  important  than  the  one  marked  "  The 
Old  Roman  Empire."  The  simplest  German 
miner  understood  the  map  at  a  glance 
and  realized  its  meaning  for  the  members 
of  the  Pan-German  League.  Here  is  old 
Rome  marked  world  capital.  Here  is  Csesar 
Augustus  called  the  first  world  emperor. 
Here  is  Carthage  with  its  capital  looted  and 
Roman  peasants  remaining  after  the  victory 
to  move  into  rich  men's  houses  and  estates 
of  North  Africa.  And  here  also  were  the 
maps  of  conquered  Palestine,  Ephesus,  Athens 
and  Corinth.  To  be  sure  the  old  Romans 
had  to  become  soldiers,  but,  later,  did  not 
each  Roman  soldier  live  in  the  rich  gardens 
around  Thebes,  Ephesus  and  Corinth  ? 

Instantly  the  imaginations  of  the  German 
peasants  and  workmen  kindled.  The  Kaiser 
35 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

was  right.  "What  had  been  in  Rome  must 
be  in  Berlin.  The  Elbe  must  succeed  the 
Tiber.  Berlin  shall  be  the  second  world- 
capital.  Our  Wilhelm  shall  be  the  second 
world-emperor.  Germania  shall  be  written 
straight  across  Europe  from  Hamburg  on 
the  North  Sea  to  Bagdad  on  the  Persian 
Gulf.  Germans  alone  shall  be  allowed  to 
carry  weapons,  as  once  only  the  Roman  was 
allowed  to  own  a  spear ;  only  Germans  shall 
be  allowed  to  hold  title  deeds  to  lands,  even 
as  once  only  Romans  could  hold  a  field  or 
a  house  in  fee  simple.  Old  Rome  won  by 
becoming  a  military  State. 

Did  not  the  people  of  Rome  go  forth  as 
soldiers  and  return  with  triumphal  proces- 
sions, with  treasures  of  loot  that  took  days 
to  pass  along  the  Appian  Way,  while  the 
Romans  stood  cheering  and  the  women  and 
children  sang  and  threw  flowers  in  the  path  ? 
Why  should  not  the  German  army,  between 
the  reaping  of  the  wheat  in  July  and  the 
threshing  of  the  wheat  in  October,  return 
from  Brussels  and  Paris  laden  with  treasure, 
while  a  second  triumphal  procession  marched 
down  Wilhelm strasse  ? 

The  German  peasants  kindled  at  this 
dream.  Why  should  the  German  have  to 
36 


The  Berlin  Schemers  and  Their  Plot 

live  always  on  bologna  sausage,  drink  beer, 
eat  sauerkraut  and  live  in  ugly  houses  when 
the  people  of  Paris  and  London  drank  cham- 
pagne, ate  roast  fowl,  wore  French  laces  and 
the  finest  English  wools  ?  It  was  a  wicked 
shame.  Surely  the  German  was  intended 
for  something  better  than  sauerkraut  and 
beer! 

"Two  weeks  and  we  will  be  in  Brussels. 
Three  weeks  and  we  will  have  Paris.  Two 
months  and  we  will  loot  London." 

This  was  the  plan.  How  significant  that 
letter,  taken  from  the  dead  body  of  a  Ger- 
man boy  found  in  JSTo  Man's  Land,  near 
Compiegne. 

"Within  three  days,  Liebschen,  we  will 
be  in  Paris.  I  intend  to  bring  you  a  pocket- 
ful of  Paris  rings  and  jewels,  with  Paris 
gowns  and  laces." 

From  the  body  of  a  German  boy  found 
near  Luneville  was  taken  this  letter  saying 
that,  with  his  three  companions,  he  had 
picked  out  four  French  farms  and  left  the 
houses  standing,  and  that  his  friends  and 
himself  had  picked  out  these  farms  as  per- 
manent homes.  Later  he  added  that  Hein- 
rich  thought  it  would  be  much  better  for 
them  to  wait  until  they  smashed  England 
37 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

and  made  Canada  a  German  colony.  Then 
they  could  own,  not  small  French  farms,  but 
vast  Canadian  farms  with  a  hundred  tenants 
working  for  him  in  the  valleys  around  To- 
ronto and  the  vineyards  of  Winnipeg  and 
orchards  of  Hudson  Bay. 

Most  shrewd  and  cunning,  the  plotters  of 
the  Potsdam  gang.  They  knew  how  to  feed 
the  fires  of  envy  and  avarice  in  the  German 
people.  Every  few  weeks  they  placed  new 
material  in  the  hands  of  every  German  at 
home  and  abroad.  They  reminded  each  poor 
peasant  and  foreign  colonist  that  he  was  a 
superman,  and  that  by  day  and  by  night  he 
was  to  prepare  for  the  time  when  he  would 
become  the  head  of  all  the  people  of  the 
town  or  industry  with  which  he  was  related. 
Poor  Germans  in  foreign  countries  dreamed 
their  dreams  of  the  time  when  they  would 
be  appointed  by  the  Kaiser  and  Foreign  Min- 
ister to  take  charge  of  the  village  in  Mexico, 
the  mine  in  Chile,  or  when  they  would  be  the 
tax  collector  in  some  distant  province. 

We  know  now,  from  letters  that  have 
been  found,  that  the  German  soldiers  in 
France  carried  in  their  pockets  a  description 
by  the  German  historian  Curtius  of  the  tri- 
umphal procession  along  the  Appian  Way, 
38 


The  Berlin  Schemers  and  Their  Plot 

when  the  Koman  conquerors  came  home 
loaded  with  loot.  These  skillful  German 
plotters  printed  at  the  bottom  of  Curtius's 
description  the  statement  that  each  German 
soldier  must  look  forward  to  a  similar  return 
from  London,  Paris  and  Brussels  to  march 
through  the  streets  of  Munich  and  Berlin. 

What  a  dream  was  this  German  dream! 
What  treasures  were  to  be  brought  into 
Berlin  !  What  marbles  and  bronzes  of  Rodin 
stolen  from  Paris!  At  last  Berlin  was  to 
own  beautiful  paintings,  for  the  treasures  of 
the  Louvre  were  to  be  the  Kaiser's. 

Never  was  there  such  a  dream  dreamed 
by  peasants  who  soon  were  to  become  princes 
and  kings  and  patricians.  The  German  had 
exchanged  the  rye  bread  of  1913  for  the 
"fog  bank"  of  1918;  had  given  up  German 
beer  to  grasp  only  empty,  breaking  bubbles. 
But  it  was  a  great  dream  while  it  lasted.  In 
pursuance  of  his  hope  he  sacrificed  three 
million  German  boys,  left  dead  in  the  fields 
of  Flanders  and  France.  He  sent  home  four 
million  German  cripples.  He  filled  the  land 
with  vast  armies  of  widows  and  orphans. 

It  could  not  have  been  otherwise.     There 
has  never  been,  and  never  will  be,  but  one 
world  city — Rome ;  and  there  has  never  been 
39 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

but  one  world-emperor — Csesar  Augustus. 
There  is  to  be  one  universal  kingdom — and 
that  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  kingdom  of 
love,  justice,  peace  and  good- will.  The  Ger- 
man has  been  pursuing  a  will-o'-the-wisp. 

A  world-kingdom  will  come,  but  no  Kaiser 
will  rule  over  that  empire  of  love.  In  that 
world-parliament  all  the  races  shall  be  repre- 
sented as  equals;  then  the  earth  that  has 
long  been  a  battle-field  shall  become  an  Eden 
garden,  where  all  are  patriots  towards  the 
world-kingdom,  and  scholars  towards  the  in- 
tellect, and  self-sufficing  towards  the  family, 
and  obedient  towards  their  God. 


3.  Gernaan  Superiority  a  Myth  That 
Has  Exploded 

Several  years  before  the  great  war  began 
a  Dutch  humorist  wrote  a  play  on  Ger- 
man megalomania.  He  portrayed  a  German 
schoolroom  in  Prussia.  Thirty  or  forty 
embryonic  Prussians  are  at  the  desks  and  a 
Prussian  schoolmaster  is  in  the  chair. 

"  Children,  what  is  the  greatest  country  in 
the  world  ?  " 

All  shouted  vociferously,  "  Germany  !  " 

"  What  is  the  greatest  city  in  the  world  ?  " 
40 


German  Superiority  a  Myth 

"  Berlin ! " 

"  Who  is  the  greatest  man  in  the  world  ?  " 

"  The  Kaiser !  " 

"  Should  there  ever  be,  children,  a  vacancy 
in  the  Trinity,  who  is  best  fitted  to  fill  the 
position  ?  " 

"  The  Crown  Prince ! " 

"  Who  are  the  chosen  people  of  the  good 
old  German  God  ?  " 

"  The  German  people !  " 

Never  was  there  a  finer  bit  of  sarcasm 
and  yet  the  Germans  were  never  able  to  un- 
derstand the  play.  The  Kaiser,  the  War 
Staff,  the  Cabinet,  down  to  the  last  wretched 
creature  working  in  the  stables  and  the 
sewers,  reading  the  play,  exclaimed  : 

"  What  is  the  man  driving  at  ?  Why,  of 
course  the  Germans  are  the  greatest  people 
in  the  world — we  admit  it !  " 

Now,  during  the  last  few  years  the  Ger- 
mans have  spent  untold  millions  in  propagat- 
ing this  myth  of  superiority,  and  yet  the  Ger- 
man intellect  has  never  even  had  a  second- 
rate  position.  Call  the  roll  of  all  the  tools 
that  have  redeemed  men  from  drudgery  and 
you  will  find  that  Germany's  contributions 
are  hopelessly  inferior  to  the  other  nations. 

The  new  industrial  era  began  with  the 
41 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

locomotive  and  steamship ;  James  Watt  in- 
vented the  one  and  Stevenson  the  other. 

The  new  era  of  physical  comfort  began 
with  the  loom  ;  a  Frenchman  named  Jac- 
quard  and  an  Englishman  named  Arkwright 
made  men  warm  for  their  work  in  winter. 
Garments  within  the  reach  of  the  poor  man 
in  forest  and  factory,  field  and  mine,  means 
the  cotton  gin,  and  that  gin  is  the  gift  of 
an  American.  The  sewing  machine  changed 
woman's  position,  but  the  world  owes  that  to 
our  own  Elias  Howe. 

We  owe  the  telegraph  to  an  English  in- 
ventor and,  in  part,  to  Morse.  We  owe  the 
cable  in  part  to  Lord  Kelvin  and,  in  part,  to 
Cyrus  Field.  We  owe  the  telephone  to  Bell 
and  the  wireless  to  Marconi. 

Holland  invented  the  submarine,  Wright 
the  airplane,  McCormick  the  reaper  and 
Edison  the  phonograph. 

An  American  invented  the  German  sub- 
marine ;  an  American  invented  the  German 
torpedo ;  an  American  invented  the  German 
machine-gun ;  an  American  invented  the 
Murphy  button,  the  yellow  fever  antitoxin, 
the  Dakin  solution. 

An  English  physician  discovered  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood,  Jenner  gave  us  vacci- 
42 


German  Superiority  a  Myth 

nation,  Lister  antiseptics,  France  the  Pasteur 
serums  and  the  Curie  radio  discoveries,  while 
a  Bulgarian,  Dr.  Metchnikoif,  discovered  the 
enemies  of  the  blood. 

It  vras  from  France,  England  and  the 
United  States  that  Germany  stole  the  type- 
writer, the  steel  building,  the  use  of  rubber, 
the  aniline  dves,  reenforced  concrete  brido-es, 
air-brakes,  the  use  of  electricity. 

One  of  the  most  amazing  volumes  in  the 
world  is  the  "  History  of  Tools  and  Machin- 
ery." We  have  all  known  for  a  long  time 
that  there  is  not  one  single  German  name 
among  the  eight  great  masters  of  painting 
that  begins  with  Kembrandt  and  includes 
men  like  Yelasquez  and  Giotto.  We  have 
long  known  that  there  is  no  German  sculptor 
of  the  first  class  nor  a  German  sculptor  that 
is  within  ten  thousand  leagues  of  Kodin, 
Michael  Angelo  or  Phidias.  We  have  long 
known  that  Schubert  and  Schumann  and 
Rubinstein  and  Haydn  and  Chopin  were  all 
Jews,  and  that  three-fourths  of  the  other  so- 
called  German  musicians  were  Jews  whose 
ancestors  suffered  such  frightful  political 
disabilities  in  Germany  and  were  so  regu- 
larly looted  of  all  their  property  that  they 
gave  up  their  Hebrew  names  and  took  Ger- 
43 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

man,  just  as  now  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  Germans  in  this  country,  ashamed  of  their 
names,  are  Americanizing  their  family  title. 

The  simple  fact  is  that  if  a  Jew  will  only 
write  the  creative  music,  like  that  of  Bee- 
thoven, a  German  whose  gift  is  detail  will 
conduct  the  orchestra. 

The  German  can  standardize  a  machine, 
providing  an  Englishman,  a  Frenchman  or 
an  American  will  first  invent  it.  The  Ger- 
man will  gather  up  the  remnants  and  scraps 
and  odds  and  ends  in  a  clothing  factory — 
but,  oh,  think  of  an  American  gentleman 
having  to  wear  the  coat  that  was  cut  by  a 
tailor  in  Berlin  or  Munich  !  Having  during 
ten  different  summers  looked  at  their  gar- 
ments, all  one  can  say  is  that  the  German 
men  and  women  are  covered  up  but  not 
clothed. 

For  thirty  years  the  Germans  have  paid 
their  representatives  to  stand  on  the  corner 
of  the  street  and  bawl  out  to  every  passer- 
by :  "  Great  is  the  Kaiser  !  Great  are  we 
Germans !  Let  all  people  with  cymbals, 
sackbut,  shawns  and  psaltery  cry  aloud,  say- 
ing '  Great  is  the  Kaiser  and  all  his  people  ! '  " 

And  now  suddenly  the  myth  has  burst  like 
a  bubble.  The  delusion  is  exploded.  The 
44 


German  Intrigues 

Kaiser  has  found  out  that  it  is  dangerous  to 
blow  too  much  hot  air  into  a  German  blad- 
der. 

Measured  around  the  stomach  in  the  Hof- 
braus  in  the  presence  of  a  barrel  of  beer,  the 
Prussian  and  the  Bavarian  are  great ;  but 
the  hat  band  requires  the  least  material  of 
any  made  in  four  countries. 

For  the  time  has  come  to  confess  this  sim- 
ple fact  that  for  any  one  great  tool,  or  art, 
or  contribution  to  science  created  by  a  Ger- 
man there  are  four  invented  by  either  an 
American,  an  Englishman  or  a  Frenchman. 

4.  German  Intrigues 
The  spider's  web  stretched  out  over  a 
flower  bed  with  a  great  fat  spider  at  the 
centre  and  the  threads  along  which  the 
spider  runs  to  thrust  its  poisoned  sting  into 
the  enmeshed  butterfly  is  nature's  most 
accurate  symbol  of  the  vast  web  of  espionage 
lying  over  North  and  South  America  with 
secret  threads  that  vibrated  to  the  touch  of 
the  spider  at  the  centre  named  Berlin. 

In  that  web  thousands  of  German- Ameri- 
cans  were   enmeshed.     The  records  of  our 
Secret     Service    concerning   these  German 
45 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

enemies  of  the  American  Government  read 
like  a  book  of  assassinations  or  like  a  history 
of  the  black  arts.  When  the  whole  story 
comes  to  be  told  it  will  horrify  the  world. 

The  quality  of  the  German- Americans  that 
Berlin  bribed  is  set  forth  in  the  reminiscences 
of  Witte  when  he  says  that  the  Kaiser  and 
the  Foreign  Department  paid  Munsterberg 
of  Harvard  University  ^5,000  a  year  salary 
and  that  Munsterberg  was  the  most  success- 
ful and  efficient  spy  that  the  German  system 
had  ever  developed. 

In  the  long  list  of  German  agents  are  to 
be  found  the  names  of  German-American 
bankers  who  received  secret  decorations  and 
medals  from  the  German  Government ;  of 
German  merchants  who  were  partners  in  this 
country  of  firms  in  the  Fatherland  and  were 
bribed  by  a  ribbon  and  an  invitation  to  the 
Potsdam  Palace ;  of  German  newspaper  men 
who  were  under  German  pay,  and,  most 
amazing  of  all,  among  the  papers  seized  in 
the  office  of  a  German  Consul  was  found  a 
commission  appointing  this  Consul  in  an 
American  city  to  the  office  of  Governor- 
General  of  one  of  the  greatest  States  of 
Canada  as  soon  as  Canada  became  a  German 
colony. 

46 


German  Intrigues 

Many  of  the  threads  from  Berlin  ran  into 
the  various  cities  of  Mexico.  A  German 
head  office  was  set  up  under  the  general 
direction  of  Zimmermann  in  Berlin  and  of 
von  Bernstorff  in  "Washington.  Certain 
large  institutions  that  did  business  in  Mexico, 
working  in  the  same  field,  were  quietly 
elbowed  out  of  Mexico,  and  an  American 
company,  ostensibly  American,  but  con- 
trolled by  Germans,  took  over  the  business 
of  the  other  firms  under  sjDCcial  arrangement 
with  Mexico.  Pledges  were  given  Mexico 
that  as  soon  as  Germany  had  reduced  Canada 
and  the  United  States  to  the  position  of 
German  colonies,  Texas,  New  Mexico,  Ari- 
zona, Nevada  and  California  should  be 
handed  back  to  the  Mexicans. 

Millions  were  spent  by  the  German  Foreign 
Office  as  ordinary  men  spend  dollars.  The 
German  spies,  like  Boy -Ed  and  von  Papen, 
arranged  to  blow  up  American  munition 
factories  and  held  dinners  waiting  for  a 
telephone  message  saying  that  the  magazine 
had  just  exploded  or  the  depot  had  taken 
fire  or  a  scow  had  been  sunk,  after  which 
they  drank  the  health  of  the  man  who 
lighted  the  match. 

German  agents  burned  up  wheat  elevators 
47 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

with  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars'  worth 
of  wheat ;  they  fired  warehouses,  blew  up 
bridges,  wrecked  munition  plants,  destroyed 
shiploads  of  food,  dynamited  the  House  of 
Parliament  in  Ottawa,  sank  the  Lusitania 
near  Ireland,  spread  glanders  among  the 
horses  in  Sweden,  poisoned  the  food  in 
Eumania,  sank  the  ships  of  Norway,  plotted 
against  the  Argentine  Republic.  Their 
spies,  dynamiters,  secret  agents,  were  in 
every  capital  and  country  because  it  was 
their  purpose  to  make  Berlin  a  world  capital, 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  the  world  emperor  and  to 
Germanize  the  people  of  the  whole  earth. 

The  web  had  as  its  centre  the  Potsdam 
Palace,  but  its  black  lines  ran  out  into  all 
the  earth. 


5.     German  Burglars  Loaded  With  Loot 
Are  the  More  Easily  Captured 

It  seems  that  Germany  has  published,  for 
the  Spaniards,  a  list  of  treasures  she  has  won. 
In  the  long  calendar  the  reader  finds  that 
eight  States — Belgium,  France,  Poland,  Ru- 
mania, Russia,  Serbia,  Armenia,  Italy — have 
all  been  looted. 

The  Germans  claim  they  have  spoiled  over 
48 


German  Burglars  Loaded  With  Loot 

three  hundred  first  class  cities,  several  thou- 
sand secondary  cities  and  towns ;  they  add 
that  they  have  destroyed  seventy-three 
cathedrals  and  looted  them  of  their  priceless 
treasures  of  statues,  paintings,  stained  glass, 
vessels  of  silver  and  gold. 

With  brazen  audacity  the  German  pam- 
phlet tells  the  Spaniards  that  they  have  seized 
so  many  hundred  thousand  watches,  so  many 
hundred  thousand  rings,  so  much  treasure  of 
diamonds  and  jewels,  so  many  paintings 
from  rich  men's  houses,  and  the  long  boast 
ends  with  the  statement  that  they  "  obtained 
nearly  five  billions  of  loot  out  of  western 
Russia  and  have  assessed  two  billions  more 
upon  the  farmers,  villages  and  cities  of 
Ukraine." 

But  the  boast  is  an  idle  and  empty  boast. 
It  is  true  that  no  army  of  the  Allies  has 
crossed  the  German  frontier  to  permanently 
hold  a  city.  But  let  no  man  think  that  Ger- 
many has  succeeded  because  of  the  richness 
of  her  loot.  There  is  a  success  that  is  failure. 
There  is  a  victory  that  is  defeat. 

Macbeth  killed  Duncan  and  went  to  live 

in  the  palace  of  the  dead  king,  but  did 

Macbeth   succeed  ?    Was   not  his  palace  a 

brief  halting  place  in  his  journey  towards 

49 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

remorse,  insanity  and  the  day  when  Duncan's 
friends  in  turn  slew  Macbeth  ? 

The  rich  judges  of  Athens  succeeded  and 
Socrates  failed.  They  went  home  to  drink 
wine  and  feast,  while  Socrates  went  to  the 
jail  to  drink  a  cup  of  poison.  But  who 
succeeded  ?  The  judges  whose  names  are 
written  low  down  and  bespattered  with 
dirt — or  Socrates,  whose  name  fills  the  sky 
and  who  has  become  the  thinker  for  the 
world  ? 

What  if  the  Kaiser  does  boast  of  his 
successes  to-day?  So  boasted  Nero — send- 
ing Paul  to  his  rags,  crusts  and  the  dungeon 
preparatory  to  the  headman's  axe.  But  it  is 
Nero  that  lost  out,  and  it  is  Paul  who  reigns 
a  crowned  king. 

The  chief  priests  celebrated  their  victory  ; 
at  the  close  of  the  day,  after  they  had  suc- 
ceeded in  crucifying  Jesus ;  but  after  nine- 
teen centuries  the  murderers  are  unknown 
and  almost  forgotten,  while  that  young  car- 
penter rules  over  His  Empire  of  Love. 

To-day  the  Kaiser  claims  to  have  won  the 
victory  of  "a  superman."  In  that  he  has 
carried  murder,  arson,  lying,  rapine,  lust  up 
to  the  nth  power,  let  us  concede  his  claim. 
Not  otherwise  t^vo  hundred  years  ago  the 
50 


German  Burglars  Loaded  With  Loot 

Indian,  with  his  scalping  knife,  his  war-whoop 
and  his  tomahawk,  was  "  a  superman  "  in 
terms  of  savagery.  Not  otherwise  the 
Spaniards  under  Bloody  Alva  were  "  super- 
men "  in  terms  of  rack,  thumbscrew  and  in- 
struments of  torture. 

But  what  savages  once  did  in  the  little, 
the  Kaiser  and  his  men  now  do  in  the  large. 
But  because  the  Kaiser  can  publish  a  long 
list  of  wealth  gained — by  breaking  his 
treaties,  by  murder,  arson  and  lust — let  no 
man  think  that  he  is  successful. 

The  two  Biddle  brothers  looted  the  Bank 
of  England,  but  they  became  outcasts  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  always  the 
dungeon  yawned  for  them,  just  as  the 
Kaiser  and  von  Hindenburg  never  sleep  at 
night  without  a  vision  of  an  oak  tree,  a  long 
bough  and  a  hemp  rope  dangling  at  the  end, 
for  the  hemp  is  now  twisted  that  will  one 
day  choke  to  death  the  murderous  Kaiser 
and  his  War  Staff. 

Let  no  patriot,  whether  he  lives  in  Spain, 
Russia  or  the  United  States,  forget  that  ours 
is  a  world  ruled  by  men  who  were  defeated. 

To-day  on  the  thrones  of  the  world  are 
the  heroes,  like  Paul  and  Demosthenes ;  the 
martyrs  who  were  burned  with  Savonarola 
SI 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

in  Florence  or  poisoned  with  Socrates  in 
Athens. 

To-day,  the  soldiers  of  Marathon  and 
Marston  Moor,  Gettysburg  and  the  Marne 
now  rule  the  world. 

The  treasure  of  the  burglai*  and  the  brigand 
dissolves  like  snow  flakes  in  a  river. 

Long  ago  the  Hebrew  poet  said :  "  I  have 
seen  the  wicked  flourish  like  a  green  bay 
tree,  and  then  I  lifted  up  my  eyes,  and,  be- 
hold !  he  was  not."  And  when  a  little  time 
has  passed  all  lovers  of  liberty  and  humanity 
will  exclaim:  "During  four  years  I  have 
seen  the  Kaiser  and  von  Hindenburg  flourish 
as  the  green  bay  tree,  and  I  lifted  up  mine 
eyes,  and,  behold !  they  were  not.  For  the 
breath  of  His  nostrils  had  slain  them." 


6.     Germans    Who    Hide    Behind    the 
Screen 

Two  thousand  years  are  a  long  time  in 
terms  of  history. 

Many  damnable  tools  have  been  invented 
during  these  twenty  centuries.  The  rack, 
the  thumbscrew,  the  tomahawk,  the  fagot 
belong  among  these  devilish  instruments. 

Cruelties  so  terrible  have  been  devised 
52 


Germans  Who  Hide  Behind  the  Screen 

that  old  scholars  often  felt  unwilling  to  be- 
lieve that  men  were  so  low  in  the  scale  as  to 
have  been  the  authors  of  these  methods  of 
fiendishness. 

In  the  hope,  therefore,  of  keeping  respect 
for  man  many  scholars  transferred  all  re- 
sponsibility unto  devils.  They  called  in 
Satan  and  made  him  to  be  the  father  of  hate 
and  cruelty.  They  could  not  believe  that 
Nero,  Judas  or  Torquemada  could  conceive 
such  wickedness.  They  therefore  made  the 
devil  with  his  cloven  feet  and  his  long  tail  to 
whisper  these  cunning  suggestions  in  the  ear 
of  the  traitor.  Thus  the  responsibility  for 
unwonted  cruelty  was  divided  between  the 
murderer  and  the  devil  who  counselled  the 
black  crime. 

Perhaps  the  most  damnable  thing  that  was 
ever  suggested  by  the  devil  in  two  thousand 
years  is  this  little  object  called  the  German 
soldier's  token.  JSTever  did  an  object  so  small 
send  forth  cruelties  so  large  and  manifold. 

The  little  disc  is  stamped  out  on  thick 
paper  for  German  privates  and  upon  alumi- 
num for  the  officers.  At  the  top  of  this 
cardboard  is  the  portrait  of  that  awful  being 
called  by  the  Kaiser  "  our  good  old  German 
God." 

53 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

Look  at  his  white  hair,  the  long  beard  and 
the  great  sword  in  the  right  hand,  with  the 
suggestion  that  since  God  uses  the  sword  the 
German  soldier  must  cut  men  to  pieces  also. 

Beneath  you  see  flames  gushing  up,  sug- 
gesting to  the  German  soldier  that  he  is 
quite  right  in  burning  the  houses  of  France 
and  Belgium  after  he  has  looted  them,  and 
for  flinging  the  dead  bodies  into  the  blazing 
rafters.  Now  read  the  words  written  be- 
neath the  face  of  the  being  the  Germans  call 
God. 

"Strike  them  all  dead.  The  Day  of 
Judgment  shall  ask  you  no  questions." 

Strike  dead  old  men  and  women !  Dash 
the  children's  brains  out  against  the  stone 
wall !  Violate  young  girls  !  Mutilate  their 
fair  bodies  so  that  they  will  be  unseemly 
when  they  are  found  by  the  husband  or 
father.  Burn,  steal,  kill — but  remember 
that  your  Kaiser  and  the  War  Staff  have 
promised  to  stand  between  you  and  God 
Almighty  and  the  Day  of  Judgment !  Even 
if  Jesus  did  say,  "  Woe  unto  them  that 
offend  against  my  little  ones,"  you  must  re- 
member that  your  Kaiser  and  ofiBcers  have 
promised  you  immunity  on  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment. 

54 


Germans  Who  Hide  Behind  the  Screen 

That  is  what  is  meant  by  the  sentence  on 
page  thirty -one  in  the  German  handbook  of 
"  War  on  Land  "  :  "  That  which  is  permis- 
sible to  the  German  soldier  is  anything  what- 
soever that  will  help  him  gain  his  goal 
quickly." 

Nothing  better  illustrates  the  total  col- 
lapse of  manhood  in  the  Germans  than  this 
soldier's  token. 

A  coward  by  nature,  the  German  is  afraid 
to  kill  and  steal,  and  so  he  invented  a  screen 
behind  which  he  could  hide  and  named  it 
"  the  soldier's  token." 

Going  into  a  French  village  the  Germans 
collect  the  women  and  children,  order  them 
to  march  in  advance,  shoot  a  few  to  terrorize 
the  rest,  and  then,  hiding  behind  this  living 
screen,  the  Germans  march  forward.  In 
this  way  they  protect  themselves. 

The  whole  history  of  the  human  race  con- 
tains no  chapter  of  atrocity  like  the  atrocity 
of  the  Germans.  The  history  of  the  world 
contains  no  story  of  cowardice  so  black  and 
damnable  as  the  cowardice  of  the  Germans. 
Out  of  cowardice  the  soldier's  token  was 
born. 

And  so  the  Kaiser  and  the  War  Staff  in- 
vented this  round  piece  of  cardboard,  with 
55 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

the  representation  of  God  as  going  forth 
with  His  sword  to  kill  men  and  with  His 
flames  to  burn  them  and  with  the  motto  : 
"  Strike  them  all  dead,  for  the  Day  of 
Judgment  will  ask  you  no  questions." 

Therefore  among  the  instruments  of 
cruelty,  called  the  rack,  the  fagot,  the 
thumbscrew  and  the  tomahawk,  let  us  give 
the  first  place  to  the  German  soldier's  token, 
the  most  damnable  weapon  that  has  come 
out  of  hell  during  the  last  two  thousand 
years. 

7,  Must  German  Men  Be  Exterminated  *? 
A  singular  revulsion  of  sentiment  as  to 
what  must  be  done  with  the  German  army 
after  the  war,  is  now  sweeping  over  the  civi- 
lized world.  Men  who  once  were  pacifists, 
men  of  chivalry  and  kindness,  men  whose 
life  has  been  devoted  to  philanthropy  and 
reform,  scholars  and  statesmen,  whose  very 
atmosphere  is  compassion  and  magnanimity 
towards  the  poor  and  weak,  are  now  utter- 
ing sentiments  that  four  years  ago  would 
have  been  astounding  beyond  compare. 
These  men  feel  that  there  is  no  longer 
any  room  in  the  world  for  the  German. 
56 


Must  German  Men  Be  Exterminated  ? 

Society  has  organized  itself  against  the 
rattlesnake  and  the  yellow  fever.  Shep- 
herds have  entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  ex- 
terminate the  wolves.  The  Boards  of  Health 
are  planning  to  wipe  out  typhoid,  cholera 
and  the  Black  Plague.  Not  otherwise,  lovers 
of  their  fellow  man  have  finally  become 
perfectly  hopeless  with  reference  to  the 
German  people.  They  have  no  more  rela- 
tions to  the  civilization  of  1918  than  an 
orang-outang,  a  gorilla,  a  Judas,  a  hyena,  a 
thumbscrew,  a  scalping  knife  in  the  hands 
of  a  savage.  These  brutes  must  be  cast  out 
of  society. 

Some  of  us,  hoping  against  hope,  after  the 
reluctant  confession  of  the  truth  of  the  Ger- 
man atrocities,  have  appealed  to  education. 
We  knew  that  Tacitus  said,  nearly  two  thou- 
sand years  ago,  that  "  the  German  treats 
women  with  cruelty,  tortures  his  enemies, 
and  associates  kindness  with  weakness."  But 
nineteen  centuries  of  education  have  not 
changed  the  German  one  whit.  The  mere 
catalogue  of  the  crimes  committed  by  Ger- 
man officers  and  soldiers  and  set  forth  in 
more  than  twenty  volumes  of  proofs  des- 
troys the  last  vestige  of  hope  for  their  future. 
Think  of  the  catalogue !  Babies  nailed  like 
5/ 


The  Judas  Among  Nations 

rats  to  the  doors  of  houses !  Children  skew- 
ered on  a  bayonet  midst  the  cheers  of  march- 
ing Germans — as  if  the  child  were  a  quail, 
skewered  on  a  fork !  Matrons,  old  men  and 
priests  slaughtered ;  young  Italian  oflQcers 
with  throats  cut  and  hanging  on  hooks  in 
butchers'  shops ;  the  bombing  of  Red  Cross 
hospitals  and  nurses  and  the  white  flag ; 
everything  achieved  by  civilized  man  defiled 
and  destroyed — reverence  for  childhood  and 
age,  the  sanctity  of  womanhood,  the  stand- 
ards of  honour,  fidelity  to  treaties  and  all 
destroyed,  not  in  a  mood  of  drunkenness  or 
a  fit  of  rage,  but  on  a  deliberate,  cold,  calcu- 
lated policy  of  German  frightfulness. 

The  sense  of  hopelessness  as  to  civilizing 
the  German  and  keeping  him  as  an  element 
in  the  new  society  grew  out  of  the  breakdown 
of  education  and  science  in  changing  the 
German  of  the  time  of  Tacitus.  Plainly  the 
time  has  come  to  make  full  confession  of  the 
fact  that  education  can  change  the  size  but 
not  the  sort.  The  German  in  the  time  of 
Tacitus  was  ignorant  when  he  took  the  chil- 
dren of  his  enemy  and  dashed  their  brains 
out  against  the  wall;  the  German  of  1914 
and  1918  still  butchers  children,  the  only 
difference  being  that  the  butchery  is  now 
58 


Must  German  Men  Be  Exterminated  ? 

more  efficient  and  better  calculated,  through 
scientific  cruelty,  to  stir  horror  and  spread 
frightfulness.  The  leopard  has  not  changed 
its  spots.  The  rattlesnake  is  larger  and  has 
more  poison  in  the  sac;  the  German  wolf 
has  increased  in  size,  and  where  once  he  tore 
the  throat  of  two  sheep,  now  he  can  rend 
ten  lambs  in  half  the  time.  In  utter  de- 
spair, therefore,  statesmen,  generals,  diplo- 
mats, editors  are  now  talking  about  the  duty 
of  simply  exterminating  the  German  people. 
There  will  shortly  be  held  a  meeting  of  sur- 
geons in  this  country.  A  copy  of  the  pre- 
liminary call  lies  before  me.  The  plan  to  be 
discussed  is  based  upon  the  Indiana  State 
law.  That  law  authorizes  a  State  Board  of 
Surgeons  to  use  upon  the  person  of  confirmed 
criminals  and  hopeless  idiots  the  new  painless 
method  of  sterilizing  the  men.  These  sur- 
geons are  preparing  to  advocate  the  calling 
of  a  world  conference  to  consider  the  steril- 
ization of  the  ten  million  German  soldiers, 
and  the  segregation  of  their  women,  that 
when  this  generation  of  German  goes,  civi- 
lized cities,  states  and  races  may  be  rid  of 
this  awful  cancer  that  must  be  cut  clean  out 
of  the  body  of  society. 


59 


THE  BLACK 

SOUL  OF  THE  HUN 


III 

1.     German  Barbarism  Not  Barbarism  to 
the  German 

STRICTLY  speaking,  the  only  man  who 
thoroughly  understands  the  cruelty  of 
the  Germans  is  the  German  himself.  ISTo 
American  or  Englishman,  no  Belgian  or 
Frenchman  has  the  gift  of  telepathy  that 
enables  him  to  know  what  is  going  on  in 
the  German  mind  that  guides  the  German's 
hand  in  committing  his  horrible  atrocities. 
Now  and  then,  in  a  moment  when  he  is  off 
guard,  an  occasional  German  reveals  the  ex- 
planation, and  we  look  in,  just  as  John 
Bunyan's  pilgrim  saw  the  door  into  Hades 
opened  by  a  little  crack,  through  which  he 
looked  upon  the  flames.  Not  otherwise  was 
it  with  that  German  in  Baltimore,  who 
recently  exposed  the  German  mind,  and 
from  the  German  view-point  explained  the 
Germans  in  their  hour  of  brutality. 
60 


German  Barbarism 

During  a  most  intimate  and  personal  con- 
versation with  a  banker,  this  German,  the 
other  day,  explained  his  people's  atrocities 
by  saying  that  what  is  barbarism  and 
atrocities  to  England,  France  or  the  United 
States  is  not  barbarism  at  all  to  the  Ger- 
mans. In  proof  of  this  astounding  statement 
the  German  gave  this  personal  incident  of 
his  boyhood.  He  said  that  in  his  gymnasium 
there  was  another  boy  who  had  something 
that  he  wanted.  When  the  opportunity 
came,  being  the  stronger,  he  jumped  upon 
the  other  boy,  beat  him  up  terribly  and 
made  him  a  cripple  for  life.  On  reaching 
his  home  he  showed  his  parents  what  he  had 
stolen,  and  he  was  patted  on  the  back, 
praised  for  his  might  with  his  fists,  and  told 
that  that  was  the  method  he  was  to  follow 
in  after  life. 

He  insisted  that  this  sort  of  thing  was 
drilled  into  every  German  boy,  and  for  that 
reason  it  never  once  even  occurred  to  him 
that  he  had  done  wrong.  "  After  I  became 
a  man  I  settled  in  America,  and  as  I  came  to 
understand  the  spirit  of  American  civilization 
it  grew  upon  me  that  I  had  committed  a 
crime,  and  now  for  twenty-two  years,  as 
some  atonement  for  my  sin,  I  have  been 
6i 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

supporting  that  crippled  man  and  his 
widowed  mother." 

The  modern  banker  has  become  a  sort  of 
confessor,  and  to  the  banker  many  sins  are 
revealed  as  once  to  the  priest.  Nothing  is 
more  significant  than  this  German  confession 
and  his  philosophy  of  the  German  atrocity. 
In  his  own  written  letter  concerning  that 
crime  of  his  boyhood  this  German  adds: 
"  Had  I  remained  in  Germany  no  one  would 
ever  have  thought  of  suggesting  to  me  that 
I  had  done  wrong,  and  it  would  never  have 
entered  into  my  head  that  I  was  under  any 
obligation  to  the  man  I  had  maimed.  In 
the  light  of  American  civilization  I  under- 
stand the  difference,  and  I  am  seeking  to 
atone  for  my  sin,  but  all  Germans  have  been 
taught,  as  I  was  taught.  The  Germans, 
therefore,  in  their  campaign  of  frightfulness, 
are  committing  deeds  which  from  the  view- 
point of  American  civilization  are  barbarous, 
but  from  the  view-point  of  Germans  are  not 
crimes  at  all." 

The  significance  of  this  frank  confession  of 
a  German,  his  story  of  how  America  had  re- 
deemed his  soul  out  of  the  spirit  of  force  and 
cruelty  into  the  spirit  of  kindness,  humanity 
and  justice,  reveals  more  of  the  real  nature 
62 


German  Barbarism 

of  the  German  beast  and  the  Potsdam  gang 
than  a  thousand  volumes  on  the  philosophy 
of  German  atrocities.  The  simple  fact  is 
that  the  crimes  of  the  Germans  are  abomi- 
nable atrocities  to  us,  but  that  intellectually 
and  morally  the  German  officer  and  soldier 
simply  do  not  know  what  we  mean  by  our 
horror  and  the  wave  of  moral  indignation 
that  has  swept  over  the  earth.  Jesse  Pom- 
eroy  used  to  pull  canary  birds  apart,  and 
tortured  children  to  death.  But  the  boy 
was  deficient  in  the  nerve  of  humanity.  He 
simply  stared  with  blank  eyes  when  the 
judge  and  the  jury  condemned  him.  He 
was  incapable  of  knowing  what  the  excite- 
ment over  the  dead  body  was  about.  On 
the  side  of  compassion  and  humanity  the 
German  is,  as  it  were,  colour  blind,  is  with- 
out musical  sense,  and  the  nerves  of  kindness 
and  humanity  are  atrophied.  The  ordinary 
German  prisoner  when  shown  the  bodies  left 
behind  after  the  flight  of  the  German  army 
simply  looks  blankly  at  the  mutilated  corpse 
and  exclaims :  "  "Well,  what  of  it  ?  Why 
not  ?  Why  shouldn't  we  ?  "  and  shrugs  his 
shoulders,  taking  it  as  a  matter  of  course. 
That  is  another  reason  why  a  great  number 
of  American  business  men,  bankers,  mer- 
63 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

chants,  manufacturers,  scholars,  statesmen, 
have  reluctantly  been  forced  to  the  convic- 
tion that  the  ten  millions  of  German  soldiers 
should  be  painlessly  sterilized,  that  the  Ger- 
man people  (saving  only  the  remnant  who 
accept  Jesus'  idea  of  compassion  and  kind- 
ness towards  God's  poor  and  weak)  should  be 
allowed  to  die  out  of  the  world.  Re-read, 
therefore,  what  this  German  has  said  about 
the  teaching  of  his  German  parents  and  the 
German  people  in  praise  of  cruelty,  and  how 
for  twenty  years  now,  redeemed  by  life  in 
the  United  States,  he  has  tried  to  make 
atonement  by  supporting  the  man  whom  he 
had  crippled,  and  also  his  mother.  Who 
shall  explain  to  us  the  reason  why  German 
barbarism  is  not  barbarism  to  the  Germans  ? 
Why,  this  German  shall  explain  it,  through 
his  personal  experience  as  a  criminal.  But 
the  day  will  come  when  the  Potsdam  gang 
and  ten  million  German  soldiers  will  stand 
before  the  judgment  seat  of  God.  And 
what  shall  be  the  verdict  then  pronounced  ? 
You  will  find  it  in  the  New  Testament : 
"  '  Out  of  thine  own  mouth  will  I  judge 
thee,'  thou  wicked  and  cruel  German ! " 


64 


The  German  "  Science  of  Lying  " 


2.     The  German  "  Science  of  Lying  " 

For  the  first  time  in  history  a  nation  has 
organized  lying  into  a  science  and  taught 
deceit  as  an  art. 

At  the  very  time  when  the  diplomats  of 
the  world  have  refused  any  form  of  secrecy 
and  insist  upon  publishing  all  international 
treaties  and  doing  everything  in  the  open, 
Germany  has  organized  lying  into  a  national 
science.  Even  Maximilian  Harden,  editor  of 
Zukunft,  openly  acknowledges  this  in  one  of 
his  editorials  reproduced  in  the  papers  of 
Denmark  and  Holland. 

Harden  comes  right  out  in  the  open.  He 
tells  the  German  people  that  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  it  was  necessary  to  say  to 
the  world  that  Germany  was  fighting  a  de- 
fensive war,  that  her  back  was  against  the 
wall,  that  those  wicked  enemies  named  Eng- 
land and  France,  Russia  and  Belgium  were 
leaping  upon  her  like  wolves. 

Of  course,  says  Harden,  at  first  that  was 
good  diplomacy,  but  now  that  we  are  suc- 
cessful, "  Why  say  this  any  longer  ?  Let 
the  Kaiser  and  his  Chancellor  tell  the  world 
plainly  that  we  decided  upon  this  war 
65 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

twenty-five  years  ago ;  that  during  all  of 
these  years  we  were  preparing  cannons  and 
shells ;  that  we  drilled  ten  million  men 
against  'Der  Tag';  that  we  wanted  this 
war,  that  we  planned  this  war,  that  we 
forced  this  war  and  that  we  are  proud  of  it." 

With  one  stroke  Harden  has  torn  off  the 
mask.  He  exhibits  the  Kaiser  as  the  prince 
of  liars.  If  his  words  mean  anything,  they 
mean  that  what  has  long  been  surmised  is 
absolutely  true,  namely,  that  Germany  wished 
some  one  would  kill  the  Austrian  Prince  and 
Princess  so  as  to  start  the  war,  for  which 
Berlin  had  prepared  everything,  down  to  the 
last  buckle  on  the  harness  of  the  horses. 

General  von  Bissing  is  not  less  open. 
Dying  men  are  not  apt  to  tell  lies.  When 
he  saw  that  the  end  was  coming  the  Gov- 
ernor-General of  Belgium  prepared  what  he 
called  his  •'  last  will  and  testament." 

As  a  close  and  intimate  friend  of  the 
Kaiser,  he  left  a  letter  with  his  will  asking 
the  German  Government  carefully  to  con- 
sider his  wishes.  He  says  plainly  that  all  of 
the  statements  that  Berlin  never  intended  to 
annex  Belgium  were  pure  camouflage.  He 
urges  the  Berlin  office  to  flatly  declare  its 
purpose  never  to  give  up  a  foot  of  the  Bel- 
66 


The  German  "  Science  of  Lying  " 

gian  coast  nor  an  acre  of  the  conquered  terri- 
tory of  north  France  and  Belgium. 

"  It  is  of  no  consequence,"  he  says,  "  that 
we  have  given  a  solemn  pledge  not  to  annex 
Belgium.  Why  not  tell  the  world  that  we 
will  have  failed  in  the  one  thing  for  which 
we  set  out  if  we  evacuate  Belgium  ?  We 
need  Belgium's  coast  line  for  our  shipping." 

He  adds  that  Germany  has  used  twenty- 
three  million  tons  of  Belgian  coal  and  has 
taken  as  much  more  iron  ore  out  of  France's 
basin  in  Briey.  "  We  cannot  live  and  com- 
pete with  France  and  England  if  we  give  up 
the  coal  and  iron  mines  that  we  have  con- 
quered and  the  harbours  that  we  have  won." 

Having  affirmed,  therefore,  that  the  Ger- 
man Government  lied  at  the  beginning  in 
claiming  that  they  entered  Belgium  fighting 
a  defensive  warfare.  General  von  Bissing 
cast  about  for  some  one  behind  whom  he  can 
hide  as  a  screen  and  who  can  be  used  as  an 
authority  for  lying.  He  finds  his  guide  and 
leader  in  "The  Prince,"  written  by  Mach- 
iavelli.  That  book  has  often  been  called 
the  treatise  on  the  art  of  lying.  Kever  was 
such  cunning  exhibited.  Never  was  the 
father  of  lies  invoked  with  such  skill  as  by 
the  German  leaders.  In  their  sight  truth  is 
67 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

contemptible,  kindness  is  weakness,  honour  is 
a  figment. 

But  the  individual,  the  city,  or  the  empire 
that  builds  its  life  on  lies  builds  its  house  on 
sand.  Soon  the  rains  will  descend  and  the 
floods  come,  the  winds  will  blow,  and  the 
house  will  fall,  and  great  will  be  the  fall  of 
it. 

The  German  is  like  a  thirsty  man  who 
tries  to  quench  his  thirst  by  drinking  scald- 
ing water.  He  is  like  a  hungry  man  who 
tries  to  satisfy  bis  appetite  by  eating  red-hot 
coals. 


3.     The  Malignity  of  the  German  Spies 

Disturbed  by  many  events  in  their  city, 
the  Secret  Service  men  guard  very  carefully 
the  speakers  for  the  Liberty  Loan,  the  Ked 
Cross  or  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  hut  work.  Fearing 
lest  some  German  agent  might  injure  the 
good  name  of  their  town,  the  Secret  Service 
men  of  a  certain  community  recently  told  the 
following  incident,  merely  as  a  warning  to 
all  public  speakers  who  might,  by  their 
words,  arouse  the  enmity  of  half-balanced 
German  fanatics.  Because  it  was  intended 
to  put  us  all  upon  our  guard,  and  because 
68 


The  Malignity  of  the  German  Spies 

no  interest  could  possibly  be  injured,  but 
many  persons  be  benefited,  the  incident  is 
here  set  forth  in  detail.  The  speaker  was 
a  young  lawyer,  of  position,  influence  and 
fine  education,  who  was  serving  his  country 
during  the  period  of  the  war. 

"  One  morning  I  received  my  assignment 
through  a  sealed  envelope.  Experience  told 
me  that  I  was  to  take  up  the  work  of  some 
other  Secret  Service  man  and  complete  the 
task.  Of  course,  one  Secret  Service  man 
does  not  know  who  else  is  in  the  service. 
Since  the  war  began  we  go  by  numbers, 
rather  than  by  our  names.  "When  I  opened 
my  envelope  I  found  these  directions ;  '  Go 

to  No. .     "Wait  until  there  is  no 

customer  in  the  tobacco  store.  Then  put 
down  on  the  counter  two  ten-cent  pieces,  and 
say  to  the  woman,  "  I  want  that  package  of 
green  leaf  tobacco."  When  you  have  left 
the  store,  open  the  package,  and  you  will 
find  full  directions  therein.'  I  followed  the 
instructions  strictly,  and  out  on  the  street  I 
opened  the  package,  and  found  a  large  key 
and  a  small  one,  with  these  words  written : 
'Go  to  'No.  so-and-so  (mentioning  a  third- 
class  little  apartment  house  in  one  of  the 
worst  districts  in  the  city).  The  large  key 
69 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

will  open  room  ]S'o.  14.  The  small  key  will 
open  a  little  writing  table  in  the  room.  In 
the  drawer  of  that  table  you  will  find  full 
directions.' 

"I  soon  found  the  apartment  house, 
climbed  to  the  second  floor,  found  my  large 
key  turning  in  the  lock,  and  the  small  key 
opened  the  draw^er  in  the  desk.  In  that 
drawer  I  found  these  words :  '  The  man  we 
want  is  in  the  adjoining  room.  He  Avill 
come  in  about  seven  o'clock,  but  he  may  not 
come  until  eleven  or  twelve.  It  is  important 
that  we  have  his  testimony.  Don't  wound 
him  seriously  or  kill  him.  You  will  find  a 
hole  bored  through  the  door  between  your 
room  and  his.  That  hole  is  filled  with 
putty,  but  underneath  the  putty  is  wax. 
Warm  the  wire  in  the  drawer  in  the  gas 
jet  and  melt  the  wax.' 

"  I  waited  until  eleven  o'clock  for  the  man 
to  come  in.  For  a  while  he  sat  on  the  bed, 
with  his  I)ack  towards  me.  He  was  reading. 
Finally  he  lifted  his  pillow  to  shake  it  up, 
and  I  caught  sight  of  a  big  revolver  under 
the  pillow.  For  several  reasons  I  decided 
to  do  nothing  until  he  had  fallen  asleep.  I 
kept  my  ear  glued  to  that  little  hole  for  one 
hour  after  he  turned  out  his  light.  "When 
70 


The  Malignity  of  the  German  Spies 

he  was  sleeping  soundly  I  went  into  the  hall, 
with  my  skeleton  key  turned  the  lock  in  the 
door,  and  then  with  my  lantern  in  the  left 
hand  and  my  revolver  in  the  right  made  one 
bound  into  the  room,  struck  my  light  and 
my  revolver  into  his  face  under  the  light 
and  shouted:   'Hands  up!'    Within  three 
minutes  I  had  him  handcuffed  and  within 
ten  had  him  bound.     In  that  room,  when 
the  police  came  at  my  call,  we  found  enough 
chemicals  and  powerful  explosives  to  have 
blown  up  the  entu-e  block.     In  his  satchel 
were  found  incriminating  letters,  secret  docu- 
ments, and,  with  their  help,  we  soon  landed 
the  entire  crowd.     All  have  now  been  taken 
care  of.     Their  iiames  were  stamped  out  be- 
fore they  were  kindled."     That  one  incident 
was  only  one  of  a  series  of  closely-related 
dramatic    events.     Outwardly,  life  in  that 
city  is  very  safe,  simple  and  straightforward, 
but  as  to  the  forces  of  evil,  the  anarchists, 
the  I.  "W.  W.'s  and  German  plotters  the  pa- 
triot can  only  say  that  but  for  the  Secret 
Service  and  the  police  and  the  Department 
of  Justice,  society  could  not  go  on  for  one 
single  month. 


71 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

4.     The    Cancer  in  the  Body-Politic  of 
Germany 

To-day,  physicians  and  surgeons  count  the 
cancer  man's  deadliest  enemy.  Every  year 
this  baffling  disease  takes  large  and  larger 
toll  of  human  life.  From  time  to  time  ex- 
perts come  together  to  plan  its  limitation, 
but  meanwhile  the  terrible  disease  increases. 
Addressing  a  company  of  experts  recently, 
a  great  physician  exclaimed :  "  Even  if  we 
can  stop  its  growth  by  radium,  it  still  re- 
mains for  us  to  get  rid  of  the  growth  itself. 
There  seems  to  be  no  way  to  lift  the  evil 
cells  out  save  through  the  knife,  after  which 
nature  must  heal  the  wound.  Science  knows 
no  other  way."  Plainly,  no  magic  can  be 
invoked.  N'o  miracle  assists  the  surgeon. 
His  one  recourse  is  to  the  knife,  and  after 
that  the  healing  forces  of  nature. 

Let  us  confess  that  the  knife  has  a  large 
place  in  the  extermination  of  social  diseases. 
Militarism  is  a  cancer  on  the  German  body- 
politic,  just  as  slavery  was  once  a  cancer 
fastened  on  the  fair  body  of  the  great  South. 
That  disease  had  fastened  itself  upon  the 
South  many  years  before  the  Civil  War. 
Like  a  cancer,  it  spread  its  roots  throughout 
72 


Cancer  in  the  Body- Politic  of  Germany 

the  whole  social  and  economic  structure  of 
the  Southern  States.  It  poisoned  trade.  Its 
virus  was  in  the  body  of  law.  It  destroyed 
kindness  and  sympathy  for  the  weak. 
Slavery  debased  the  poor  white  working- 
man.  It  made  the  white  fathers  of  mulatto 
children  so  cruel  that  they  sold  their  own 
flesh  and  blood.  Overseers  became  brutes. 
Slave  drivers  stood  up  and  bid  upon  their 
own  children  in  the  auction  markets.  Slowly 
the  disease  spread.  Men  became  alarmed. 
They  tried  everything  excepting  the  knife 
held  in  the  hand  of  war  surgeons.  Clay 
recognized  the  cancer  in  the  body  politic. 
He  proposed  compromise  as  a  poultice. 
Garrison  and  Phillips  proposed  the  amputa- 
tion of  the  diseased  limb.  John  Brown  tried 
to  put  sulphuric  acid  upon  the  sore  spots  and 
eat  it  out  through  the  flames  of  insurrection, 
Lincoln  knew  that  it  was  a  case  of  life  or 
death.  The  Republic  could  not  endure  half 
slave  and  half  free.  All  measures  failed. 
Finally  the  god  of  war  went  forth  and  lifted 
a  knife  heated  red  hot  and  cut  the  foul 
cancer  out  of  the  body  and  saved  the  fair 
South.  When  many  years  had  passed  nature 
healed  the  wound  and  saved  the  life  of  the 
Republic. 

73 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

Germany,  Austria  and  Turkey  to-day  are 
patients  in  a  world  hospital.  It  is  plain  that 
they  are  stricken  with  death.  The  foul 
cancer  of  militarism  has  fastened  itself  upon 
Germany.  The  cancer  of  autocracy  is  eat- 
ing into  the  vitals  of  Austria.  The  cancer 
of  polygamy  is  enmeshed  in  the  life  of 
Turkey.  Of  late  the  disease  has  been 
spreading.  Now  these  surgeons,  named 
Foch,  Haig  and  Pershing,  have  been 
anointed  by  the  ointment  of  war  black  and 
sulphurous,  and,  lifting  their  scalpel,  these 
men  have  been  ordained  to  cut  out  the  foul 
growth  from  the  body-politic  of  Germany. 
Perchance  there  is  still  enough  vital  force 
left  therein  to  heal  the  wound  after  the 
disease  has  been  removed.  Meanwhile,  the 
sick  man  of  Turkey  struggles.  The  patient 
hates  the  knife.  The  diseased  body  will  not 
have  the  only  instrument  that  holds  possible 
cure,  and  yet,  despite  all  his  struggle,  the 
disease  must  come  out.  Slowly  the  surgical 
process  goes  on.  One  root  at  Yerdun  was 
cut,  and  now  another  is  being  sundered  in  the 
West.  Much  blood  flows,  but  the  blood  is 
black  and  foul.  Every  cell  in  the  German 
body-politic  seems  to  be  diseased.  Medicines 
must  be  found.  The  stimulants  of  sound 
74 


The  Collapse  of  the  Family  in  Germany 

ethics  and  morals  must  be  invoked — after 
that  it  is  a  question  of  the  recuperative 
forces  of  intellect  and  conscience  in  the  Ger- 
man people.  These  forces  alone  can  heal 
the  wound  left  after  the  foul  cancer  has  been 
cut  away.  To-day,  men  with  a  large  mind, 
blessed  with  magnanimity,  kindness  and 
good-will  must  stay  their  hearts  upon  history, 
that  shows  us  that  in  the  past  in  our  own 
country  slavery  was  a  cancer  cut  out  by  the 
surgeons  of  war,  and  that  after  a  long  time 
the  great  South  recovered  its  health,  its 
beauty  and  its  usefulness. 

5.     Polygamy  and  the    Collapse    of  the 
Family  in  Germany 

The  unexpected  influences  of  this  war 
upon  Germany  herself  is  a  striking  consider- 
ation. Few  men  anticipated  the  far-off  re- 
sults of  the  Kaiser's  alliance  with  the  Sultan 
and  his  polygamous  philosophy.  During  the 
past  two  years  the  German  newspapers, 
magazines  and  debates  in  the  Keichstag  have 
been  filled  with  startling  suggestions  con- 
cerning the  family.  The  Berliner  LoJcalati- 
zeiger,  on  March  7,  1916,  published  a  state- 
ment urging  that  "every  girl  should  be 
75 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

giv^en  the  right  on  reaching  twenty-five 
years  to  have  one  child  born  out  of  wedlock, 
for  which  she  should  receive  from  the  state 
an  annual  allowance." 

Dr.  Krohne,  in  his  address  before  the 
House,  says  ;  "  The  decline  of  the  birth  rate 
in  Germany  has  proceeded  three  times  as  fast 
as  in  the  preceding  twenty-five  years.  No 
civilized  nation  has  hitherto  experienced  so 
large  a  decline  in  so  short  a  time.  Our  an- 
nual number  of  births  falls  already  to-day  by 
560,000  below  what  we  had  a  right  to  ex- 
pect. We  should  have  to-day  2,500,000 
more  inhabitants  than  we  have."  Comment- 
ing thereupon,  the  Berliner  Lokalameiger 
demands  that  "  illegitimate  children  should 
be  put  socially  and  morally  on  a  level  with 
the  legitimate." 

When,  therefore,  the  Kaiser  cast  about  for 
an  alliance  with  some  man  who  could  be  his 
bosom  friend  and  could  love  what  he  loves, 
the  Kaiser  chose  the  Sultan  with  his  po- 
lygamy and  the  Moslem  teaching  with  its 
harem.  E^o  British  or  French  officer,  there- 
fore, was  surprised  when  documents  like  the 
following  began  to  be  found  on  the  dead 
bodies  of  young  German  officers.  This  docu- 
ment is  a  verbatim  and  absolutely  accurate 
76 


The  Collapse  of  the  Family  in  Germany 

copy  of  one  of  the  many  now  deposited  in 
the  various  departments  of  Justice  and  the 
"War  Departments  in  Havre  and  Paris  : 

"  Soldiers,  a  danger  assails  the  Fatherland 
by  reason  of  its  dwindling  birth  rate.  The 
cradles  of  Germany  are  empty  to-day  ;  it  is 
your  duty  to  see  that  they  are  filled.  You 
bachelors,  when  your  leave  comes,  marry  at 
once  the  girl  of  your  choice.  Make  her  your 
wife  without  delay.  The  Fatherland  needs 
healthy  children.  You  married  men  and 
your  wives  should  put  jealousy  from  your 
minds  and  consider  whether  you  have  not 
also  a  duty  to  the  Fatherland.  You  should 
consider  whether  you  may  not  honourably 
contract  an  alliance  with  one  of  the  million 
of  bachelor  women.  See  if  your  wife  will 
not  sanction  the  relation.  Remember,  all  of 
you,  the  empty  cradles  of  Germany  must  be 
filled. 

"  Your  name  has  been  given  us  as  a  capa- 
ble man,  and  you  are  herewith  requested  to 
take  on  this  office  of  honour,  and  to  do  your 
duty  in  a  proper  German  way.  It  must  here 
be  pointed  out  that  your  wife  or  fiancee  will 
not  be  able  to  claim  a  divorce.  It  is,  in  fact, 
hoped  that  the  women  will  bear  this  discom- 
fort heroically  for  the  sake  of  the  war.  You 
77 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

will  be  given  the  district  of .     Should 

you  not  feel  capable  of  carrying  on  the  task 
allotted  to  you,  you  will  be  given  three  days 
on  which  to  name  some  one  in  your  place. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  you  are  prepared  to 
take  on  a  second  district  as  well  you  will  be- 
come '  drekoffizier '  and  receive  a  pension. 
An  exhibition  of  photographs  of  women  and 
maidens  in  the  district  allotted  to  you  is  to 
be  seen  at  the  office  of .  You  are  re- 
quested to  bring  this  letter  with  you." 

This  is  an  amazing  document.  Plainly  the 
German  family  has  broken  down.  But  no 
household  can  be  built  on  free  love  in  1918, 
just  as  no  stone  building  can  be  erected  on 
hay,  stubble  or  sand.  The  German  family 
has  gone,  and  German  society  is  tottering 
towards  its  final  ruin. 


6.    The  Red-Hot  Swords  in  Sister  Julie's 
Eyes 

The  history  of  heroism  holds  nothing  finer 
than  the  story  of  Sister  Julie,  decorated  by 
the  French  Government  with  the  Cross  of 
the  Legion  of  Honour.  She  lived  in  the  little 
village  of  Gerbeviller,  now  called  "Gerbe- 
viller  the  Martyred."  On  August  27th  the 
78 


Red-Hot  Swords  in  Sister  Julie's  Eyes 

French  army  broke  the  line  of  the  German 
Crown  Prince  and  compelled  the  Huns'  re- 
treat. General  Clauss  was  ordered  to  go 
northeast  and  dig  in  on  the  top  of  the  ridge 
some  twelve  miles  north  of  Gerbeviller.  The 
Germans  reached  the  village  at  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  and  by  half-past  twelve  they 
had  looted  all  the  houses  and  were  ready 
to  burn  the  doomed  city.  The  incendiary 
wagons  were  filled  with  the  firebrands 
stamped  1912.  Beginning  at  the  southern 
end  of  the  village,  the  German  officers  and 
soldiers  looted  every  house,  shop,  store  and 
public  building,  and  then  set  fire  to  the  town. 
At  last  they  came  to  the  extreme  northern 
end,  where  a  few  houses  and  the  little  hos- 
pital over  which  Sister  Julie  had  charge, 
were  still  standing. 

About  noon  a  German  colonel  with  the 
blazing  firebrand  in  his  right  hand  stood  in 
front  of  Sister  Julie's  house.  It  has  been 
said  that  there  are  flaming  swords  in  the 
eyes  of  every  good  woman.  In  that  terrible 
hour  the  face  of  Sister  Julie  proved  the 
proverb.  She  told  the  German  officer  that 
these  few  houses  that  were  left  were  filled 
with  wounded  French  soldiers,  with  here 
and  there  a  wounded  German.  The  Hun 
79 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

answered  that  his  men  would  remove  the 
Germans  who  were  wounded,  but  that  the 
buildings  must  be  fired.  Behind  him  were 
several  hundred  buildings  blazing  like  one 
fiery  furnace.  Sister  Julie  stood  squarely 
across  the  path  of  the  Hun.  "  While  I  live 
you  shall  not  enter.  You  shall  not  kill  these 
dying  men.  I  swear  it  by  this  crucifix  1 
Your  hands  are  already  red  with  blood. 
God  dwells  within  this  house.  Look  at  this 
figure  of  Jesus,  who  said,  'Woe  unto  him 
that  offends  against  one  of  my  little  ones. 
These  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  hell.' 
I  myself  will  bear  witness  against  you.  You 
have  murdered  our  fifteen  old  men.  All 
their  lives  long  these  old  men  did  us  good 
and  not  evil.  Look  at  the  little  girls  you 
have  slain.  God  Himself  will  strike  yoa 
dead."  General  Clauss  stood  dumb.  He 
was  embarrassed  beyond  all  words.  Fear 
also  got  hold  upon  him.  He  turned  and 
disappeared  into  a  group  of  his  soldiers. 
Two  or  three  minutes  passed  by.  A  Ger- 
man colonel  came  to  Sister  Julie.  He  told 
her  that  the  houses  used  for  wounded  sol- 
diers would  be  spared  by  General  Clauss 
provided  Sister  Julie  would  agree  to  con- 
tinue her  ministrations  to  the  wounded  Ger- 
80 


Red-Hot  Swords  in  Sister  Julie's  Eyes 

mans  lying  in  her  hospital.  As  General 
Clauss  already  knew  that  this  had  already 
been  done,  and  would  be,  the  Germans 
marched  away,  leaving  the  hospital  build- 
ings uninjured.  It  was  a  victory  of  the  soul 
of  a  noble  woman. 

One  morning  last  summer  Sister  Julie 
showed  her  decorations.  Her  face  was  kind, 
gentle  and  motherly.  Her  atmosphere  was 
peace  and  serenity.  She  seemed  a  tower  of 
strength.  It  must  have  been  easy  for  dying 
French  boys  in  those  rooms  to  have  identi- 
fied Sister  Julie  with  Mary  the  Mother,  who 
saw  her  son  dying  on  the  cross.  Later  on 
we  met  an  aged  woman  of  martyred  Ger- 
beviller.  She  had  been  nursing  in  the  hos- 
pital and  had  stood  behind  Sister  Julie  when 
she  forbade  General  Clauss  to  light  the  fire- 
brands. "  "What  did  Sister  Julie  say  ?  "  we 
asked  the  old  woman.  "Oh,  sir,  I  do  not 
know,  and  yet  I  do  know.  She  told  them 
that  she  would  ask  God  to  strike  them  dead. 
In  that  moment  I  was  afraid  of  her.  She 
seemed  to  me  more  to  be  feared  than  Gen- 
eral Clauss  and  all  his  wicked  army.  I  can 
tell  you  what  our  good  priest  says  about 
Sister  Julie."  "  And  what  is  that  ?  "  The 
old  woman  could  not  quote  the  verse  accu- 
8i 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

rately,  but  from  what  she  said  we  were  soon 
guided  to  a  chapter  in  the  old  Bible,  and 
there  was  the  verse  that  described  Sister 
Julie,  with  arms  uplifted  at  the  door  of  her 
hospital  and  denying  access  to  General 
Clauss.  The  verse  was  this:  "And  lo!  an 
angel  with  a  flaming  sword  stood  at  the  gate 
and  kept  the  garden." 

7.     The  Hidden  Dynamite ;   the  Hun's 
Destruction  of  Cathedrals 

In  one  group  of  ruined  cellars  that  was 
once  a  splendid  French  city,  there  is  a  beauti- 
ful building  standing.  It  is  rich  with  the 
art  and  architecture  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  lines  are  most  graceful  and  the  structure 
is  the  fulfillment  of  Keats'  line :  "  A  thing 
of  beauty  is  a  joy  forever."  Such  a  build- 
ing belongs  not  to  the  French  nation,  but  to 
the  whole  human  race.  An  architect  like 
the  man  who  planned  this  noble  building  is 
born  only  once  in  a  thousand  years.  Every 
visitor  to  that  ruined  town  asks  himself  this 
question :  "  Why  did  the  Germans  allow  this 
building  to  remain?"  An  incident  of  the 
story  of  Bapaume  throws  a  flood  of  light 
upon  the  problem. 

82 


The  Hidden  Dynamite 

One  year  ago,  when  the  Germans  were  re- 
treating from  Bapaume,  they  looted  every 
house,  burned  or  dynamited  every  building 
save  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  That  city  hall  the 
Germans  left  standing  in  all  its  majesty  and 
beauty.  In  front  of  the  building  they 
placed  a  placard  containing  in  substance  the 
statement  that  they  left  this  building  as  a 
monument  to  Germany's  love  of  art  and 
architecture. 

Secretly,  however,  in  the  cellar  of  this 
noble  building  the  Germans  buried  several 
tons  of  dynamite.  To  this  dynamite  they 
attached  a  seven-day  clock.  They  set  the 
seven-day  clock  to  explode  at  'eleven  o'clock 
one  week  after  the  Germans  had  retreated. 
These  beasts  worked  out  the  theory  that  the 
largest  possible  number  of  British  and  French 
officers  and  public  men  would  be  inspecting 
the  building  at  that  hour  of  the  day. 

The  plot  was  successful.  Their  devilish 
cunning  was  rewarded  and  their  hate  glutted. 
The  clock  struck  the  detonator,  the  dyna- 
mite exploded,  blew  the  building  and  the 
visitors  into  atoms.  Standing  in  the  ruined 
public  square,  one  sees  nothing  but  that 
great  shell  pit  where  the  earth  opened  up  its 
mouth  and  swallowed  a  monument  builded 
83 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

to  beauty  and  grandeur.  This  other  build- 
ing, therefore,  that  stands  in  the  city  fifty 
miles  to  the  south  of  Bapaume  is  there  for 
the  sole  reason  that  the  seven-day  clock 
failed  to  explode  the  dynamite— not  because 
of  any  love  of  architecture  that  possessed  the 
Germans.  It  is  there  to  tell  us  that  some 
part  of  the  mechanism  of  death  failed  to 
connect. 

In  analyzing  the  German  mind  nothing  is 
more  certain  than  the  fact  that  they  lack  a 
fine  sense  of  humour  and  are  often  quite 
devoid  of  imagination. 

As  for  sculpture,  nothing  can  be  more 
hideous  than  the  statues  of  the  fifteen 
Prussian  kings  that  do  not  decorate,  but 
simply  vulgarize,  the  avenue  leading  towards 
Magdeburg.  The  vast  broad  statue  of 
Hindenburg,  to  which  the  Germans  come  to 
drive  nails  and  scratch  their  names  in  lead 
pencils,  reminds  one  of  the  occasional  public 
buildings  in  this  country  defaced  by  thought- 
less and  vulgar  boys.  Nor  is  there  anything 
in  the  world  as  ugly  as  the  German  sculptor's 
statue  of  the  present  Kaiser  out  at  Potsdam 
Palace,  unless  it  be  the  statue  of  an  Indian 
in  front  of  a  tobacco  store  down  in  Smith- 
ville,  Indian  Territory,  though  even  this  is 
84 


The  Hidden  Dynamite 

doubtful.  It  hardly  seems  possible  that  one 
earth  only  7,000  miles  in  diameter  could  hold 
two  statues  as  ugly  as  that  of  the  Kaiser ! 

It  is  this  singular  lack  of  imagination  and 
failure  to  understand  the  beautiful  that  ex- 
plains the  systematic  destruction  by  the 
German  army  of  the  glorious  cathedrals,  the 
fourteenth  century  churches,  libraries,  cha- 
teaux and  hotels  des  villes  that  were  the 
glory  and  beauty  of  France. 

"If  we  cannot  have  these  vineyards  and 
orchards,"  said  the  Germans,  "Frenchmen 
shall  not  have  them." 

So  they  turned  the  land  into  a  desert. 
Kot  otherwise  the  German  seems  to  feel 
that  if  he  cannot  build  structures  as  beautiful 
as  these  glorious  buildings  in  France  that  he 
will  not  leave  one  of  them  standing. 

Next  to  the  Parthenon  in  Athens  and 
St.  Peter's  in  Eome,  perhaps  the  world's 
best  loved  and  most  admired  building  was 
the  Cathedral  of  Eheims.  There  Joan  of 
Arc  crowned  Charles  IX;  there  for  cen- 
turies the  noblest  men  of  France  had  gone 
to  receive  their  offices  and  their  honours.  A 
building  that  belonged  to  the  world.  What 
treasures  of  beauty  for  the  whole  human 
race  in  the  thousand  and  more  statues  in  the 
85 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

cathedral !  How  priceless  the  twelfth-cen- 
tury stained  glass  !  "What  paintings  which 
have  come  down  from  the  masters  of  Italy  ! 
Whoever  visited  the  library  and  the  Car- 
dinal's palace  without  exclaiming:  "What 
beautiful  missals  !  What  illuminated  manu- 
scripts ?  " 

Fully  conscious  of  the  fact  that  they  were 
impotent  to  produce  such  treasures  the  Ger- 
mans, unable  to  get  closer  to  the  cathedral 
than  four  miles,  determined  to  destroy  them. 
Day  after  day  they  bombed  the  noble 
cathedral.  Gone  now,  too,  the  great  stone 
roof!  Fallen  the  flying  buttresses,  ruined 
the  chapels.  Perished  all  the  tapestries,  the 
rugs  and  the  laces.  Water  stands  in  puddles 
on  the  floor.  The  cathedral  is  a  blackened 
shell. 

The  victim  of  grievous  ingratitude,  King 
Lear,  was  turned  out  into  the  snow  and  hail 
by  his  wicked  daughters ;  and  the  white- 
haired  old  king  wandered  through  the  black- 
ness of  the  night  beneath  the  falling  hail. 
And,  lo  !  the  Cathedral  of  Kheims  is  a  King 
Lear  in  architecture — broken,  wounded,  ex- 
posed to  the  hails  of  the  autumn  and  the 
snow  of  the  winter,  through  the  coarseness 
and  vandalism  of  the  Germans. 
86 


German  Sniper  Hid  Behind  the  Crucifix 

The  German  Foreign  Minister  put  it  all  in 
one  word :  "  Let  the  neutrals  cease  their 
everlasting  chatter  about  the  destruction  of 
E-heims  Cathedral.  All  the  paintings,  statues 
and  cathedrals  in  the  world  are  not  so  much 
as  one  straw  to  the  Germans  over  against 
the  gaining  of  our  goal  and  the  conquest  of 
their  land." 

Never  was  a  truer  word  spoken.  The 
German  lacks  the  imagination  and  the  gift 
of  the  love  of  the  beautiful.  He  would 
prefer  one  bologna  sausage  factory  and  one 
brewery  to  the  Parthenon,  with  St.  Peter's 
and  Kheims  Cathedral  thrown  in. 


8.     The  German  Sniper  Who  Hid  Be- 
hind the  Crucifix 

For  hundreds  of  years  the  French  peasants 
have  loved  the  crucifix.  Many  a  beautiful 
woman  carries  a  little  gold  cross  with  the 
figure  of  Jesus  fastened  thereto,  and  from 
time  to  time  draws  it  out  to  press  the  crucifix 
to  her  lips.  Even  in  the  harvest  fields  and 
beside  the  road,  travellers  find  the  carved 
figure  of  the  Saviour  lifted  up  to  draw  poor, 
ignorant  and  sinful  men  to  His  own  level. 

One  of  the  most  glorious  pieces  of  carving 
87 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

in  France  was  wrought  in  walnut  by  a  great 
sculptor  and  lifted  up  on  a  tree  in  the  midst 
of  an  estate,  where  the  peasants,  resting  from 
their  work,  could  refresh  their  souls  by  love 
and  faith  and  prayer. 

One  day  last  summer,  during  the  Teuton 
advance,  k  German  officer  stood  beneath 
that  divine  figure.  Mentally  he  marked  the 
place.  That  night  when  the  darkness  fell  a 
company  of  German  officers  returned  to  that 
spot.  One  of  them  climbed  up  on  the  tree. 
He  found  that  the  carved  figure  of  Jesus 
was  life  size. 

With  the  end  of  a  rope  a  little  platform 
was  drawn  up  level  with  the  foot  of  the 
crucifix.  Two  ropes  were  fastened  to  the 
outstretched  arms  of  the  Saviour.  Another 
rope  was  fastened  around  the  neck  of  Jesus, 
until  the  platform  was  made  safe.  Then  a 
German  sniper  with  his  gun  climbed  up  on 
the  platform.  He  laid  his  rifle  upon  the 
shoulders  of  the  Divine  Figure,  hiding  his 
body  behind  that  of  Jesus.  The  German  of- 
ficer must  have  chuckled  with  satisfaction, 
for  he  knew  that  he  had  found  a  screen  be- 
hind which  a  murderer  might  hide,  and  the 
German  villain  was  quite  right  in  his 
psychology. 

88 


German  Sniper  Hid  Behind  the  Crucifix 

It  was  true  that  the  French  soldiers  loved 
that  beautiful  figure.  To  them  the  crucifix 
was  sacred.  So  beautiful  were  their  ideals, 
so  lofty  their  spirit,  so  pure  and  high  their 
imagination,  that  they  were  incapable  of  con- 
ceiving that  a  German  could  use  the  sacred 
crucifix  as  a  screen  from  which  ty  send  forth 
his  murderous  hail. 

The  green  boughs  of  that  tree  hid  the 
little  puff  of  smoke.  From  time  to  time  a 
French  soldier  would  fall  dead  with  a  hole 
through  his  forehead.  Once  a  French  officer 
threw  up  his  hands  while  the  blood  streamed 
from  his  mouth  and  he  pitched  forward  dead. 

At  last  the  French  soldiers  understood. 
There  was  a  sniper  behind  Christ's  cross. 
The  French  could  have  turned  their  cannon 
against  that  tree,  but  instead  they  simply 
kept  below  the  trench  until  the  night  fell. 
Then  in  the  darkness  some  French  boys  took 
their  lives  in  their  hands  and  crawled  on 
hands  and  knees  across  No  Man's  Land. 
Lying  on  their  backs  they  cut  the  wires 
above  their  heads. 

By  some  strange  providence  they  dropped 

safely  into  the  German  trench  and  crawled 

ten  yards  beyond.     Then  they  climbed  into 

the  tree,  removed  that  glorious  crucifix  with 

89 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

the  carved  figure,  brought  it  back  in  safety 
and  at  daybreak  turned  their  cannon  on  the 
tree  and  blew  the  platform  to  pieces. 

Foul  Huns  had  made  a  screen  of  that 
sacred  ligure,  but  the  French  were  not  will- 
ing to  injure  their  ideals  by  shooting  the 
crucifix  to  pieces. 

To-day  all  the  world  despises  the  Ger- 
mans. Nothing  is  sacred  to  them.  Their 
souls  are  dead  within  them  and  when  the 
soul  dies,  everything  dies. 

The  German's  body  may  live  on  for  twenty 
years,  but  you  might  as  well  pronounce  the 
funeral  address  to-day,  for  the  soul  of  Ger- 
many is  dead.  Nothing  but  a  physical  fight- 
ing machine  now  remains. 

Meanwhile,  France  lives.  Never  were 
her  ideals  so  lofty  and  pure.  That  is  why 
the  world  loves  France.  She  has  kept  faith 
with  her  ideals. 


9.     The  Ruined  Studio 

I  have  in  my  possession  several  photo- 
graphs of  a  ruined  studio.  Some  twenty  or 
thirty  Germans  dashed  into  a  little  French 
village  one  day,  and  demanded  at  the  point 
of  their  automatic  pistols  the  surrender  by 
90 


The  Ruined  Studio 

the  women  of  their  rings,  jewelry,  money 
and  their  varied  treasure.  At  the  edge  of 
the  village  was  a  simple  little  summer-house, 
in  which  one  of  the  French  artists  had  his 
studio.  He  had  been  in  that  valley  for  three 
months,  sketching,  and  working  very  hard. 
Knowing  that  they  had  but  a  little  time  in 
which  to  do  their  work  as  vandals,  the  Huns 
started  to  ruin  the  studio.  With  big  knives 
they  cut  the  fine  canvases  into  ruins.  They 
knocked  down  the  marbles,  and  the  bronzes ; 
the  little  bust  from  the  hand  of  Kodin 
was  smashed  with  a  hammer.  The  bronze 
brought  from  Rome  was  pounded  until  the 
face  was  ruined.  One  blow  of  the  hammer 
smashed  the  Chinese  pottery,  another  broke 
the  plates  and  the  porcelain  into  fragments. 
Then  every  corner  of  the  room  was  defiled, 
and  the  pigs  fled  from  their  filthy  stye. 
Across  one  of  the  canvases  the  German 
officer  wrote  the  words,  "  This  is  my  trade- 
mark." And  every  other  part  of  the  canvas 
was  cut  to  ribbons  with  his  knife.  No  more 
convincing  evidence  of  the  real  German  char- 
acter can  possibly  be  found  than  these  photo- 
graphs of  the  interior  of  that  ruined  studio. 

Here  we  have  the  reason  why  the  Kaiser 
himself,  who  knew  the  German  through  and 
91 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

through,  called  his  people  Huns.  Long  ago 
the  first  Huns  entered  Italy.  They  found  a 
city  of  marble,  ivory,  and  silver.  They  left 
it  a  heap  and  a  ruin.  They  had  no  under- 
standing of  a  palace ;  they  did  not  know 
what  a  picture  meant,  or  a  marble;  they 
were  irritated  by  the  superiority  of  the 
Roman.  What  they  could  not  understand 
they  determined  to  destroy.  That  is  one  of 
the  reasons  why  all  the  marbles  and  bronzes 
that  we  have  in  Italy  are  marred  and  in- 
jured. The  head  of  Jupiter  is  cracked ;  the 
Yenus  di  Milo  has  no  arms ;  Aphrodite  has 
been  repaired  with  plaster ;  Apollo  has  lost 
a  part  of  his  neck  and  one  leg.  From  time 
to  time  an  old  marble  is  dug  up  in  a  field, 
where  some  ploughman  has  chanced  upon 
the  treasure.  Owners  hid  their  beautiful 
statues,  ivories  and  bronzes,  to  save  them 
from  the  vandals.  Unfortunately,  the  mod- 
ern Huns  rushed  into  the  French  towns, 
riding  in  automobiles,  and  sculptors  and 
painters  had  no  time  to  hide  their  treasures. 
The  great  cathedrals  could  not  be  hidden. 
The  Kaiser  in  one  of  his  recent  statements 
boasted  that  he  had  destroyed  seventy-three 
cathedrals  in  Belgium  and  France.  It  is  all 
too  true.  From  the  beginning,  the  Cathedral 
92 


Was  This  Murder  Justified  *? 

of  Eheims,  dear  to  the  whole  world,  and 
glorious  through  the  associations  of  Jeanne 
d'Arc,  was  doomed,  because  the  Germans, 
having  no  treasure  of  their  own,  and  inca- 
pable of  producing  such  ja.  cathedral,  deter- 
mined that  France  should  not  have  that 
treasure.  The  other  day,  in  Kentucky,  a 
negro  jockey  came  in  at  the  tail  end  of 
a  race,  ten  rods  behind  his  rival.  That  night, 
the  negro  bought  a  pint  of  whiskey,  and  de- 
termined to  have  vengeance,  so  he  went  out 
at  midnight,  and  cut  the  hamstrings  of  the 
beautiful  horse  that  had  defeated  his  own 
beast.  Now  that  is  precisely  the  spirit  that 
animated  the  German  War  Staff  and  the 
men  that  have  devastated  France  and  Bel- 
gium, and  every  man  who  has  witnessed 
these  German  crimes  with  his  own  eyes 
will  never  be  the  same  person  again.  His 
whole  attitude  towards  the  Hun  is  an  atti- 
tude of  horror  and  revulsion.  A  certain 
noble  anger  burns  within  him,  as  burned  that 
noble  passion  in  Dante  against  those  crimi- 
nals who  spoiled  Florence  of  her  treasures. 

lo.     Was  This  Murder  Justified*? 

One    raw,   December    day,   in    1914,   an 
American  gentleman,  widely  known  as  trav- 
93 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  Hun 

eller  and  correspondent,  was  in  a  hospital 
in  London,  recovering  from  his  wound,  re- 
ceived in  Belgium.  He  was  startled  by  the 
appearance  of  an  old  Belgian  priest,  and  a 
young  Belgian  woman.  The  American  au- 
thor was  travelling  in  Belgium  at  the  time 
of  the  German  invasion.  Quite  unexpectedly 
he  was  caught  behind  the  lines,  near  Lou- 
vain.  Having  heard  his  statement,  the  Ger- 
man officer  recognized  its  truthfulness  and 
sincerity,  and  insisted  that  this  American 
scholar  should  be  his  guest  at  the  Belgian 
chateau  of  which  he  had  just  taken  posses- 
sion. The  German  had  already  shot  the 
Belgian  owner,  and  one  or  two  of  the  serv- 
ants, who  defended  their  master.  To  the 
horror  and  righteous  anger  of  the  American, 
the  German  officer  took  his  place  at  the 
head  of  the  table,  waved  the  American  to 
his  seat,  and  ordered  the  young  Belgian 
woman  to  perform  her  duties  as  hostess.  In 
that  tense  moment,  it  was  a  matter  of  life 
and  death  to  disobey.  That  German  officer 
had  his  way,  not  only  with  the  young  Bel- 
gian wife,  half  dazed,  half  crazed,  wholly 
broken  in  spirit,  but  with  the  American 
whom  he  sent  forward  to  Brussels. 
Plunged  into  the  midst  of  many  duties  in 
94 


Was  This  Murder^Justified  ? 

connection  with  Americans  and  refugees  who 
had  to  be  gotten  out  of  Belgium  into  Eng- 
land, this  American  author  had  to  put  aside 
temporarily  any  plan  for  the  release  of  that 
young  Belgian  woman  held  in  bondage. 
Later,  when  he  was  wounded,  the  American 
crossed  to  London  for  medical  help.  "When 
the  old  Belgian  priest  and  that  youag  woman 
stood  at  the  foot  of  his  bed  in  the  hospital 
in  London,  all  the  events  of  that  terrible 
hour  in  the  dining-room  of  the  Belgian 
chateau  returned,  and  once  more  he  lived 
through  that  frightful  scene.  The  purpose 
of  the  visit  soon  became  evident.  The  old 
Belgian  priest  stated  the  problem.  He  be- 
gan by  saying  that  God  alone  could  take 
human  life  since  God  alone  could  give  it. 
He  urged  that  the  sorrow  of  the  young 
woman's  present  was  as  nothing  in  compari- 
son to  the  loss  of  her  soul  should  she  be 
guilty  of  infanticide.  It  was  the  plea  of  a 
man  who  lived  for  the  old  ideals.  His  white 
hair,  his  gentle  face,  his  pure  disinterested 
spirit  lent  weight  to  his  words.  Then  came 
the  statement  of  the  young  Belgian  woman. 
She  told  the  American  author  of  the  dread- 
ful days  and  weeks  that  followed  after  his 
departure,  that  every  conceivable  agony  was 
95 


The  Black  Soul  of  the  HuiT 

wrought  upon  her,  and  that  now  within  a 
few  months,  she  must  have  a  child  by  that 
wicked  German  officer.  She  cried  out  that 
the  very  babe  would  be  unclean,  that  it 
would  be  born  a  monster,  that  it  was  as  if 
she  was  bringing  into  the  world  an  evil 
thing,  doomed  in  advance  to  direst  hell. 
That  every  day  and  every  hour  she  felt  that 
poison  was  running  through  her  veins.  She 
turned  upon  the  old  priest,  saying,  "  You  insist 
that  God  alone  gives  life  !  ISTay,  no,  no,  no  ! 
It  was  a  German  devil  that  gave  me  this 
life  that  now  throbs  within  my  body  !  And 
every  moment  I  feel  that  that  life  is  pol- 
lution. German  blood  is  poisoned  blood. 
German  blood  is  like  putrefaction  and  de- 
cay, soiling  my  innermost  life."  The  young 
woman  wept,  prayed,  plead,  and  finally  in 
her  desperation  cried  out,  "  Then  I  decide 
for  myself  !  The  responsibility  is  mine.  I 
alone  will  bear  it."  And  out  of  the  hospital 
she  swept  with  the  dignity  and  beauty  of  the 
Lady  of  Sorrows. 

A  year  later,  in  Paris,  the  French  judge 
and  court  cleared  the  young  girl  who  choked 
to  death  with  a  string  the  babe  of  the  Ger- 
man officer  who  had  attacked  her.  But 
since  that  time,  all  France  and  Belgium  and 
96 


Was  This  Murder  Justified  ? 

the  lands  where  there  are  refugees  are 
discussing  the  question — Where  does  the 
right  lie  ?  Has  the  French  mother,  cruelly 
wounded,  no  right  ?  And  this  foul  thing 
forced  upon  her  a  superior  right  ?  Which 
path  for  the  bewildered  girl  leads  to  peace  ? 
Where  does  the  Lord  of  Eight  stand  ?  What 
chance  has  a  babe  born  of  a  beast,  abhorred 
and  despised,  when  it  comes  into  the  world  ? 
The  women  of  the  world  alone  can  answer 
this  question. 


97 


IN  FRANCE 
THE  IMMORTAL! 


IV 


1.     The  Glory  of  the   French  Soldier's 
Heroism 

AS  much  as  the  German  atrocities  have 
done  to  destroy  our  confidence  in  the 
divine  origin  of  the  human  soul,  the  French 
soldiers  have  done  to  vindicate  the  majesty 
and  beauty  of  a  soul  made  in  the  image  of 
God. 

I  have  seen  French  boys  that  were  so 
simple,  brave  and  modest  in  their  courage, 
so  beautiful  in  their  spirit,  as  to  make  one 
feel  that  they  were  young  gods  and  not  men. 
One  day,  into  one  of  the  camps,  came  a 
lawyer  from  Paris.  He  brought  the  news 
of  the  revival  of  the  Latin  Quarter.  For 
nearly  three  years  a  shop  near  the  Beaux 
Arts  had  been  closed.  During  all  this  time 
the  French  soldier  had  been  at  the  front. 
When  the  first  call  came  on  that  August  day 
he  put  up  the  wooden  shutters,  turned  the 


Glory  of  the  French  Soldier's  Heroism 

key  in  the  lock,  and  marched  away  to  the 
trenches. 

Said  the  lawyer:  "I  come  from  your 
cousin.  The  Americans  are  here  in  Paris. 
Your  cousin  says  that  if  you  will  give  me 
the  keys  and  authorize  her  to  open  the  shop 
she  will  take  your  place.  She  can  recover 
your  business,  and  perhaps  have  a  little  store 
of  money  for  you  when  you  have  your  '  per- 
mission' or  come  home  to  rest.  She  tells 
me  that  she  is  your  sole  relative."  The 
soldier  shook  his  head,  saying:  "I  never 
expect  to  come  home.  I  do  not  want  to 
come  home.  France  can  be  freed  only  by 
men  who  are  ready  to  die  for  her.  I  do  not 
know  where  the  key  is.  I  do  not  know 
what  goods  are  in  the  shop.  For  three 
years  I  have  had  no  thought  of  it.  I  am 
too  busy  to  make  money.  There  are  other 
things  for  me — fighting,  and  perhaps  dying. 
Tell  my  cousin  that  she  can  have  the  shop." 
Then  the  soldier  saluted  and  started  back 
towards  his  trench.  "  Wait !  Wait ! "  cried 
the  attorney.  Then  he  stooped  down,  wrote 
hurriedly  upon  his  knee,  a  little  paper  in 
which  the  soldier  authorized  his  cousin  to 
carry  on  the  business  in  his  name.  Scrawl- 
ing his  name  to  the  document,  the  soldier 
99 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

ran  towards  the  place  where  his  heart  was — 
the  place  of  peril,  heroism  and  self-sacrifice. 
This  was  typical  of  the  thousands  of 
soldiers  at  the  front,  for  French  soldiers 
suffer  that  the  children  may  never  have  to 
wade  through  this  blood  and  muck.  The  foul 
creature  that  has  bathed  the  world  in  blood 
must  be  slain  forever.  With  the  full  consent 
of  the  intellect,  of  the  heart  and  the  con- 
science, these  glorious  French  boys  have 
given  themselves  to  God,  to  freedom,  and  to 
France. 


2.  Why  the  Hun  Cannot  Defeat  the 
Frenchman 

One  morning  in  a  little  restaurant  in  Paris 
I  was  talking  with  a  British  array-captain. 
The  young  soldier  was  a  typical  Englishman, 
quiet,  reserved,  but  plainly  a  little  excited. 
He  had  just  been  promoted  to  his  captaincy 
and  had  received  one  week's  "  permission  " 
for  a  rest  in  Paris.  We  had  both  come 
down  from  near  Messines  Ridge. 

"Of  course,"  said  the  English  captain, 
"  the  French  are  the  greatest  soldiers  in  the 
world." 

"Why  do  you  say  that?"   I  answered. 

I  GO 


Why  the  Hun  Cannot  Defeat  the  French 

"What  could  be  more  wonderful  than  the 
heroism,  the  endurance  of  the  British  at 
Yimy  Ridge  ?  They  seem  to  me  more  like 
young  gods  than  men." 

To  which  the  captain  answered :  "  But 
you  must  remember  that  England  has  never 
been  invaded.  Look  at  my  company! 
Their  equipment  is  right  from  helmet  to 
shoe,  so  perfectly  drilled  are  they  that  the 
swing  of  their  right  legs  is  like  the  swing  of 
one  pendulum.  I  will  put  my  British  com- 
pany against  the  world.  Still  I  must  con- 
fess this,  that,  so  far  as  I  know,  no  English 
division  of  fifteen  thousand  men  ever  came 
home  at  night  with  more  than  five  thousand 
prisoners. 

"  But  look  at  the  French  boys  at  Verdun ! 
As  for  clothes,  one  had  a  helmet,  another  a 
hat,  or  a  cap,  or  was  bareheaded„  One  had 
red  trousers,  one  had  gray  trousers  and  one 
had  fought  until  he  had  only  rags  left. 
"When  they  got  within  ten  rods  of  the  Ger- 
man trench  they  were  so  anxious  to  reach 
the  Boche  that  they  forgot  to  shoot  and 
lifted  up  their  big  bayonets,  while  they 
shouted,  '  For  God  and  France  ! ' 

"That  night  when  that  French  division 
came  back  ten  thousand  strong  they  brought 

lOI 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

more  than  ten  thousand  German  prisoners 
with  them  to  spend  the  night  inside  of 
barbed  wire  fences. 

"The  reason  is  this:  These  Frenchmen 
fought  for  home  and  fireside.  They  fought 
against  an  invader  who  had  murdered  their 
daughters  and  mothers.  The  Huns  will 
never  defeat  France.  Before  that  could 
be  done,"  exclaimed  the  English  captain, 
"  there  would  not  be  a  man  left  in  France  to 
explain  the  reason  for  his  defeat." 

3.     ''  I  Am  Only  His  Wife  " 

Human  life  holds  many  wonderful  hours. 
Love,  marriage,  suffering,  trouble,  are  crises 
full  of  romance  and  destiny,  but  I  question 
whether  any  man  ever  passed  through  an 
experience  more  thrilling  than  the  hour  in 
which  he  stands  at  the  Charing  Cross  or 
Waterloo  Station  in  London  or  in  the  great 
station  in  Paris  and  watches  the  hospital 
trains  come  in,  loaded  with  wounded  soldiers 
brought  in  after  a  great  battle. 

Often  fifty  thousand  men  and  women  line 

the  streets  for  blocks,  waiting  for  the  trains. 

Slowly  the  wounded  boys  are  lifted  from  the 

car  to  the  cot.     Slowly  the  cot  is  carried  to 

102 


"  I  Am  Only  His  Wife  " 

the  ambulance.  The  nurses  speak  only  in 
whispers.  The  surgeons  lift  the  hand  direct- 
ing them.  You  can  hear  the  wings  of  the 
Angel  of  Death  rustling  in  the  air. 

When  the  automobile  carrying  two 
wounded  boys  moves  down  the  street,  the 
men  and  women  all  uncover  while  you  hear 
whispered  words,  "  God  bless  you  !  "  from 
some  father  or  mother  who  see  their  own 
son  in  that  boy. 

]N"ow  and  then  some  young  girl  with 
streaming  eyes  timidly  drops  a  flower  into 
the  front  of  the  ambulance — pansies  for  re- 
membrance and  love — upon  a  boy  whom  she 
does  not  know,  while  she  thinks  of  a  boy 
whom  she  knows  and  loves  who  is  some- 
where in  the  trenches  of  France. 

One  morning  a  young  nurse  in  the  hos- 
pital in  Paris  received  a  telegram.  It  was 
from  a  young  soldier,  saying  :  "  My  pal  has 
been  grievously  wounded.  He  is  on  the 
train  that  will  land  this  afternoon.  He  has 
a  young  wife  and  a  little  child.  You  will 
find  them  at  such  and  such  a  street.  I  do  not 
know  whether  he  will  live  to  reach  Paris. 
Can  you  see  that  they  are  at  the  station  to 
meet  him  ?  That  was  his  last  whispered  re- 
quest to  me." 


In  France  the  Immortal! 

That  afternoon  at  five  o'clock,  with  her 
face  pressed  between  the  iron  bars,  a  young 
French  woman,  with  a  little  boy  in  her  arms, 
was  looking  down  the  long  platform.  Many, 
many  cots  passed  by,  and  still  he  did  not 
come.  At  last  she  saw  the  nurse.  The 
young  wife  did  not  know  that  her  soldier 
husband  had  died  while  they  lifted  him  out 
of  the  car. 

The  young  nurse  said  that  she  never  had 
undertaken  a  harder  task  than  that  of  lifting 
the  boy  in  her  own  arms  and  leading  the 
French  girl  to  that  cot,  that  she  might  know 
that  henceforth  she  must  look  with  altered 
eyes  upon  an  altered  world.  A  few  minutes 
passed  by  and  then  a  miracle  of  hope  had 
happened. 

"  I  saw  her,"  said  the  nurse,  "  with  one 
hand  upon  his  hair  and  the  other  stretched 
upward  as  she  exclaimed :  '  I  am  only  his 
wife,  France  is  his  mother  !  I  am  only  his 
wife,  France  is  his  mother  !  I  give  him  to 
France,  the  mother  that  reared  him ! ' " 


4.     A  Soldier's  Funeral  in  Paris 

The    two    boys   were    incredibly    happy. 
Two  mornings   before  they  had  landed  in 

104 


A  Soldier's  Funeral  in  Paris 

Paris.  What  a  reception  they  had  had  in 
the  soldiers'  club  from  the  splendid  French 
women !  How  good  the  hot  bath  had 
seemed  I  Clean  linen,  a  fresh  shave,  a  good 
breakfast,  a  soft  cot,  plenty  of  blankets, 
twenty-four  hours'  sleep,  and  they  had 
wakened  up  new  men.  The  first  morning 
they  walked  along  the  streets,  looking  into 
the  shop  windows ;  in  the  afternoon  one  of 
the  ladies  took  them  to  a  moving  picture 
show,  and  now  on  the  second  day  here  they 
were,  at  a  little  table  before  the  cafe  in  one 
of  the  best  restaurants  in  the  Latin  Quarter, 
with  good  red  wine  and  black  coffee,  and 
plenty  of  cigarettes,  and  not  even  the  boom 
of  cannon  to  disturb  their  conversation. 
Strange  that  in  three  days  they  could  have 
passed  from  the  uttermost  of  hell  to  the  ut- 
termost of  safety  and  peace.  "These  are 
good  times,"  said  one  of  the  boys,  "  and  we 
are  in  them." 

Then  they  heard  a  policeman  shouting. 
Looking  up,  they  saw  a  singular  spectacle. 
Just  in  front  of  them  was  a  poor  old  hearse 
drawn  by  two  horses,  whose  black  trappings 
touched  the  ground.  Shabbier  hearse  never 
was  seen.  Strangest  of  all,  there  was  only 
a  little,  thin,  black-robed  girl  walking  be- 
105 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

hind  the  hearse.  There  were  no  hired 
mourners  as  usual.  There  Avas  no  large 
group  of  friends  walking  with  heads  bared 
in  token  of  reverence  ;  there  was  no  priest ; 
no  carriages  followed  after.  Saddest  of  all, 
there  was  not  even  a  flower.  What  could 
these  things  mean?  How  strange  that 
when  they  were  so  happy  this  little  woman 
could  be  so  sad. 

Suddenly  one  of  the  soldier  boys  arose. 
He  stepped  into  the  street  and  looked  into 
the  hearse.  There  he  saw  these  words :  "  A 
soldier  of  France."  He  began  to  question 
the  woman.  Lifting  her  veil,  he  saw  a  frail 
girl,  and  while  the  traflBc  jam  increased  she 
told  her  story.  The  soldier  had  been 
wounded  at  the  Battle  of  the  Marne.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  to  be  brought  to  Paris. 
He  never  walked  again.  "  I  am  very  poor ; 
I  have  only  one  franc  a  day.  We  have  no 
friends.     I  borrowed  money  for  the  hearse." 

The  boy  returned  to  his  fellows.  "  Fall  in 
line,  boys  !  "  he  shouted.  "  Here  is  a  soldier 
of  France.  This  little  girl  has  taken  care  of 
him  for  three  years  on  one  franc  a  day. 
Line  up,  everybody,  and  tell  the  men  to 
swallow  their  coffee  and  wine  and  fall  into 
the  procession.  Go  into  the  shops  and  say 
1 06 


The  Old  Book-Lover  of  Louvain 

that  a  soldier  of  France  lies  here."  When 
that  hearse  began  to  move  there  were  twenty 
men  and  women  walking  as  mourners  be- 
hind the  body.  Two  soldier  boys  walked  be- 
side the  frail  little  girl  with  her  heavy  crepe. 
As  the  soldiers  walked  along  beside  the 
hearse  the  procession  began  to  grow.  On 
and  on  for  two  long  miles  this  slowly  mov- 
ing company  increased  in  number  until  one 
hundred  were  in  line,  and  when  they  came 
into  God's  Acre  they  buried  the  poor  boy  as 
if  he  were  a  king  coming  in  with  trumpets 
from  the  battle.  For  he  was  a  soldier  of 
France. 


5.     The  Old  Book-Lover  of  Louvain 

Among  the  fascinating  pursuits  of  life  we 
must  make  a  large  place  for  the  collection  of 
old  books,  old  paintings,  old  missals  and 
curios.  Certain  cities,  like  Venice,  Florence, 
Eome,  Naples,  and  Madrid,  have  been  for 
a  thousand  years  like  unto  the  Sar- 
gasso Sea  in  which  beautiful  things  have 
drifted. 

Fifty  years  ago,  men  of  leisure  began  to 
collect  these  treasures.  Some  made  their 
way  into  Egypt  and  Palestine,  and  there  un- 
107 


In  France  the  Immortal  I 

covered  temples  long  buried  in.  sands  and 
ruins  and  all  covered  with  d6bris.  From 
time  to  time  old  missals  were  found  in 
deserted  monasteries,  marbles  were  digged 
up  in  buried  palaces.  Men  came  back  from 
their  journeys  with  some  lovely  terra  cotta, 
some  ivory  or  bronze,  some  painting  by  an 
old  master,  whose  beauty  had  been  hidden 
for  centuries  under  smoke  and  grime.  The 
enthusiasm  of  the  collectors  exceeds  the  zest 
of  men  searching  for  gold  and  diamonds 
amid  the  sands  of  South  Africa. 

Fifty  years  ago  a  young  scholar  of 
Louvain  won  high  praise  because  of  his  skill 
in  dating  and  naming  old  pictures  and 
manuscripts.  "When  ten  years  had  passed 
by,  this  scholar's  name  and  fame  were  spread 
all  over  Europe.  Many  museums  in  different 
countries  competed  for  his  services. 

The  time  came  when  the  heads  of  galleries 
in  London  and  Paris  and  Rome  sent  for  this 
expert  to  pass  upon  some  art  object.  During 
the  fifty  years  this  scholar  came  to  know 
every  beautiful  treasure  in  Europe. 

In  the  old  castles  of  Austria,  in  a  monas- 
tery of  Bohemia,  in  the  house  of  an  ancient 
Italian  family,  in  certain  second-hand  book- 
stores, in  out-of-the-way  towns  he  found 
108 


The  Old  Book- Lover  of  Louvain 

treasures  as  precious  as  pearls  and  diamonds 
raked  out  of  the  muck-heap. 

When  death  took  away  his  only  son  and 
left  his  little  grandchildren  dependent  upon 
himself  the  old  book-lover  looked  forward 
serenely  into  the  future.  He  knew  that 
every  year  his  treasures  were  growing  more 
and  more  valuable.  Living  in  his  home  in 
Louvain  he  received  from  time  to  time  visits 
from  experts,  who  came  in  from  all  the 
cities  of  the  world  to  see  his  treasures,  and 
if  possible,  to  buy  some  rare  book. 

Then,  in  August,  1914,  came  the  great  ca- 
tastrophe, as  came  the  explosion  of  Vesuvius 
that  buried  Pompeii  under  hot  ashes  and 
flaming  fire. 

One  morning  the  old  scholar  was  startled 
by  the  noise  and  confusion  in  the  street. 
Looking  down  from  his  window  he  saw 
German  soldiers,  German  horsemen,  Ger- 
man cannon.  He  beheld  women  and  chil- 
dren lined  up  on  the  sidewalk.  He  saw 
German  soldiers  assault  old  men.  He  saw 
them  carrying  the  furniture,  rugs  and  carpets 
out  of  the  houses.  He  saw  the  flames 
coming  out  of  the  roofs  of  houses  a  block 
away. 

A  moment  later  an  old  university  pro- 
109 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

fessor  pounded  upon  his  door  and  called  out 
that  they  must  flee  for  their  lives.  There 
was  only  time  to  pick  out  one  satchel  and 
fill  it  with  his  precious  manuscripts  and 
costly  missals.  Then  the  two  old  scholars 
fled  into  the  street  with  the  grandchildren. 
Fortunately  a  Belgian  driving  a  two- wheeled 
coal  cart  was  passing  by.  Into  the  cart 
climbed  the  little  grandchildren.  Carefully 
the  satchel  filled  with  its  treasures  was  also 
lifted  into  place. 

At  that  moment  a  German  shell  exploded 
beside  the  cart.  When  the  old  book-lover 
recovered  consciousness  the  cart  was  gone, 
the  grandchildren  were  dead  and  of  all  his 
art  treasures  there  was  left  only  one  little 
book  upon  which  some  scholar  of  the  twelfth 
century  had  toiled  with  loving  hands. 

Carried  forward  among  the  refugees  several 
hours  later,  Belgian  soldiers  lifted  the  old 
man  into  a  train  that  was  carrying  the 
wounded  down  to  Havre.  In  his  hand  the 
collector  held  the  precious  book.  Excite- 
ment and  sorrow  had  broken  his  heart.  His 
mind  also  wandered.  He  was  no  longer 
able  to  understand  the  cosmic  terror  and 
blackness.  A  noble  officer,  himself  wounded, 
put  his  coat  under  the  old  man's  head  and 
no 


The  Old  Book-Lover  of  Louvain 

made  a  pillow  and  bade  him  forget  the  Ger- 
man beast,  the  bomb  shells,  the  blazing  city. 
But  all  these  foul  deeds  and  all  dangers  now 
were  as  naught  to  the  old  man. 

"  See  my  little  book,"  he  said.  "  How 
beautiful  the  lettering!  "Why,  upon  this 
book,  as  upon  a  ship,  civilization  sailed 
across  the  dark  waters  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Look  at  this  book  of  beauty.  The  ugliness 
of  the  tenth  century  is  dead.  The  cruelty 
and  the  slavery  of  bloody  tyrants  is  dead 
also.  The  old  cannon  are  quite  rusted  away. 
But  look  at  this !  Behold,  its  beauty  is 
immortal!  Everything  else  dies.  Soon  all 
the  smoke  and  blood  will  go,  but  beauty  and 
love  and  liberty  will  remain." 

And  then  lifting  the  little  book  the  old 
collector  of  Louvain  pressed  his  lips  to  the 
vellum  page,  bright  with  the  blue  and  crim- 
son and  gold  of  seven  hundred  years,  and  in 
a  moment  passed  to  the  soul's  summer  land, 
where  no  shriek  of  German  shells  rends  the 
air,  where  wicked  Germans  have  ceased  from 
troubling  and  where  the  French  and  Bel- 
gians, worn  by  the  cruelty  of  the  Huns,  are 
now  at  rest  and  peace. 


Ill 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

6.     A  Vision  of  Judgment  in  Martyred 
Gerbeviller 

To-day  everybody  knows  the  story  of 
Gerbeviller,  the  martyred. 

To  the  northwest  is  that  glorious  capital 
of  Lorraine,  Nancy.  Farther  northwest  are 
Verdun  and  Toul,  with  our  American  boys. 
The  region  round  about  the  martyred  town 
is  a  region  of  rich  iron  ores. 

Some  years  ago,  Germany  found  herself 
at  bay,  by  reason  of  the  threatened  exhaus- 
tion of  her  iron  mines  in  Alsace-Lorraine. 
The  news  that  France  had  uncovered  new 
beds  of  iron  ore  stirred  Germany  to  a  frenzy 
of  envy  and  longing. 

High  grade  iron  ore  meant  a  new  financial 
era  for  France.  The  exhaustion  of  Ger- 
many's iron  mines  meant  industrial  depres- 
sion, and  finally  a  second  and  third  rate 
position.  Rather  than  lose  her  place  Ger- 
many determined  to  go  to  war  with  France 
and  Belgium  and  grab  their  iron  mines.  To 
break  down  resistance  on  the  part  of  the 
French  people,  the  Germans  used  atrocities 
that  were  fiendish  beyond  words.  The 
richer  the  province  she  wished  to  steal,  the 
more  terrible  her  cruelties. 

112 


A  Vision  of  Judgment 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  on  August 
2Y,  General  Clauss  and  15,000  soldiers  en- 
tered Gerbeviller.  Ten  miles  to  the  south 
was  the  remainder  of  the  German  army, 
utterly  broken  by  the  French  attack.  Clauss 
had  been  sent  north  to  dig  his  trenches  until 
the  rest  of  the  German  army  could  retreat. 

Every  hour  was  precious.  The  Germans 
remained  in  the  little  town  from  9  a.  m.  until 
12 :  30  p.  M.  They  found  in  the  village 
thirty-one  hundred  women,  girls  and  chil- 
dren, fifteen  old  men  (the  eldest  ninety-two), 
one  priest  and  one  Red  Cross  ambulance 
driver.  Even  the  little  boys  and  men  under 
seventy  had  gone  to  the  front  to  dig  ditches 
and  carry  water  to  the  French. 

It  took  the  Germans  only  two  and  one- 
half  hours  to  loot  all  the  houses  and  load 
upon  their  trucks  the  rugs,  carpets,  chairs, 
pictures,  bedding,  with  every  knife  and  fork 
and  plate.  At  half-past  eleven  General 
Clauss  was  in  the  Mayor's  house,  when  the 
German  colonel  came  in  and  reported  that 
everything  in  the  houses  had  been  stripped 
and  that  they  were  ready  to  begin  the  firing 
of  the  buildings. 

The  aged  wife  of  the  secretary  to  the 
Mayor  told  me  this  incident : 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

"  "We  find  no  weapons  in  the  houses,  and 
we  find  only  these  fifteen  old  men,  one  Red 
Cross  boy,  and  this  priest,"  said  the  colonel. 

"  Line  up  the  old  men  then  and  shoot 
them,"  shouted  General  Clauss.  "  Take  the 
priest  as  a  prisoner  to  do  work  in  the 
trenches." 

The  old  men  were  lined  up  on  the  grass. 
General  Clauss  himself  gave  the  signal  to 
fire.  Two  German  soldiers  fired  bullets  into 
each  one  of  the  old  men. 

One  of  the  heart-broken  onlookers  was  the 
village  priest.  The  Germans  carried  him 
away  as  prisoner  and  made  him  work  as  a 
common  labourer;  through  rain  and  sun, 
through  heat  and  snow,  he  toiled  on,  digging 
ditches,  carrying  burdens,  working  eighteen 
hours  a  day,  eating  spoiled  food  that  the 
German  soldiers  would  not  touch,  until 
finally  tuberculosis  developed  and  he  was 
sick  unto  death.  Then  the  Germans  released 
him  as  a  refugee,  so  the  priest  returned  to 
Gerbeviller  to  die. 

Then  came  the  anniversary  of  the  murder 
of  the  fifteen  old  men  and  of  the  one  hun- 
dred and  two  women,  girls  and  children. 
On  the  anniversary  day  of  the  martyrdom 
the  noble  Governor  of  the  province  as- 
"4 


A  Vision  of  Judgment 

sembled  the  few  survivors  for  a  memorial 
service  about  the  graves  of  the  martyrs. 

Knowing  that  the  priest  would  never  see 
another  anniversary  of  that  day  the  Prefect 
asked  the  priest  to  give  the  address  at  the 
memorial  service.  No  more  dramatic  scene 
ever  occurred  in  history.  At  the  beginning 
the  priest  told  the  story  of  the  coming  of 
the  Germans,  the  looting  of  the  houses,  the 
violation  of  the  little  girls,  the  collecting  of 
the  dead  bodies.  Suddenly  the  priest  closed 
his  eyes,  and  all  unconsciously  he  lived  the 
scene  of  those  three  and  a  half  hours. 

"  I  see  our  fifteen  heroes  standing  on  the 
grass.  I  see  the  German  soldiers  lifting  up 
their  rifles.  I  hear  General  Clauss  cursing 
and  shouting  the  command  to  fire. 

"  I  see  you,  Thomas  ;  a  brutal  soldier  tears 
your  coat  back.  He  puts  his  rifle  against 
your  heart.  When  you  sink  down  I  see 
your  hands  come  together  in  prayer. 

"  I  see  you,  Fran9ois.  I  see  the  two  big 
crutches  on  which  you  lean.  You  are  weary 
with  the  load  of  ninety  years.  I  hear  your 
granddaughter  when  she  sobs  your  name, 
and  I  see  your  smile,  as  you  strive  to  en- 
courage her. 

"  I  see  you,  Jean.  How  happy  you  were 
"5 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

when  you  came  back  with  your  wealth  to 
spend  your  last  years  in  your  native  town  I 
How  kind  you  were  to  all  our  poor.  Ah ! 
Jean,  you  did  us  good  and  not  evil,  all  the 
days  of  your  life  with  us  ! 

"  I  see  you,  little  Marie.  You  were  lying 
upon  the  grass.  I  see  your  two  little  hands 
tied  by  ropes  to  the  two  peach  trees  in  your 
mother's  garden.  I  see  the  little  wisp  of 
black  hair  stretched  out  under  your  head.  I 
see  your  little  body  lying  dead.  With  this 
hand  of  mine  upon  that  little  board,  above 
your  grave,  I  wrote  the  words,  '  Yengeance 
is  mine  ;  I  will  repay,  saith  the  Lord.' 

"  And  yonder  in  the  clouds  I  see  the  Son 
of  Man  coming  in  His  glory  with  His  angels. 
I  see  the  Kaiser  falling  upon  Gerbeviller.  I 
see  Clauss  falling  upon  our  aged  Mayor. 
But  I  also  see  God  arising  to  fall  upon  the 
Germans.  Berlin,  with  Babylon  the  Great, 
is  fallen.  It  has  become  a  nest  of  unclean 
things.  There  serpents  dwell.  Woe  unto 
them  that  offend  against  my  little  ones.  For, 
lo,  a  millstone  is  hanged  about  their  necks 
and  they  shall  be  drowned  in  the  sea  with 
Satan." 

The  excitement  was  too  much  for  the 
priest.  That  very  night  he  died.  Hence- 
ii6 


The  Return  of  the  Refugees 

forth  he  will  be  numbered  among  the  mar- 
tyrs of  Gerbeviller. 


7.     The  Return  of  the  Refugees 

The  return  of  the  refugees  to  Belgium 
and  France  holds  the  essence  of  a  thousand 
tragedies.  From  the  days  of  Homer  down 
to  those  of  Longfellow,  with  his  story  of 
Evangeline,  literature  has  recounted  the  sad 
lot  of  lovers  torn  from  one  another's  arms 
and  all  the  rest  of  their  lives  going  every 
whither  in  search  of  the  beloved  one,  only  to 
find  the  lost  and  loved  when  it  was  too  late. 

But  nothing  in  literature  is  so  tragic  as 
the  events  now  going  on  from  week  to  week 
in  the  towns  on  the  frontier  of  Switzer- 
land. 

When  the  Germans  raped  Belgium  and 
northern  France  they  sent  back  to  the  rear 
trenches  the  young  women  and  the  girls, 
and  now,  from  time  to  time,  those  girls,  all 
broken  in  health,  are  released  by  the  Ger- 
mans, who  send  them  back  to  their  parents 
or  husbands. 

Multitudes  of  these  girls  have  died  of 
abuse  and  cruelty,  but  others,  broken  in 
body  and  spirit,  are  returning  for  an  interval 
117 


In  France  the  Immortal  I 

that  is  brief  and  heart-breaking  before  the 
end  comes. 

Three  weeks  ago  an  old  friend  returned 
from  his  Ked  Cross  work  in  France.  By  in- 
vitation of  a  Government  official  he  visited 
a  town  on  the  frontier  through  which  the 
refugees  released  by  Germany  were  returning 
to  France. 

It  seemed  that  during  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember, 1914,  the  Germans  had  carried  away 
a  number  of  girls  and  young  women  in  a 
village  northeast  of  Luneville,  "When  the 
French  officials  finished  their  inquiry  as  to 
the  poor,  broken  creatures  returning  to 
France  they  found  a  French  woman,  clothed 
in  rags,  emaciated  and  sick  unto  death.  In 
her  arms  she  held  a  little  babe  a  few  weeks 
old.  Its  tiny  wrists  were  scarcely  larger 
than  lead  pencils.  The  child  moaned  inces- 
santly. The  mother  was  too  thin  and  weak 
to  do  more  than  answer  the  simple  questions 
as  to  her  name,  age,  parents,  and  husband. 

Moved  with  the  sense  of  compassion,  the 
French  official  soon  found  in  his  index  the 
name  of  her  husband,  the  number  of  his 
company  and  telegraphed  to  the  young  sol- 
dier's superior  officer,  asking  that  the  boy 
might  be  sent  forward  to  the  receiving  sta- 
ii8 


The  Return  of  the  Refugees 

tion  to  take  his  wife  back  to  some  friend, 
since  the  Germans  had  destroyed  his  village. 
By  some  unfortunate  blunder  the  officials 
gave  no  hint  of  the  real  facts  in  the  case. 

Filled  with  high  hope,  burning  with  en- 
thusiasm, exhaling  a  happiness  that  cannot 
be  described,  the  bronzed  farmer-soldier 
stepped  down  from  the  car  to  find  the 
French  official  waiting  to  conduct  him  to 
one  of  the  houses  of  refuge  where  his  young 
wife  was  waiting. 

My  American  Red  Cross  friend  witnessed 
the  meeting  between  the  girl  and  her  hus- 
band. When  the  fine  young  soldier  entered 
the  room  he  saw  a  poor,  broken,  spent,  mis- 
erable creature,  too  weak  to  do  more  than 
whisper  his  name.  When  the  young  man 
saw  that  tiny  German  babe  in  his  young 
wife's  arms  he  started  as  if  he  had  been 
stung  by  a  scorpion.  Lifting  his  hands 
above  his  head,  he  uttered  an  exclamation 
of  horror.  In  utter  amazement  he  started 
back,  overwhelmed  with  revulsion,  anguish 
and  terror. 

Gone — the  beauty  and  comeliness  of  the 
young  wife !  Gone  her  health  and  allure- 
ment !  Perished  all  her  loveliness !  Her 
garments  were  the  garments  of  a  scarecrow. 
119 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

Despite  all  these  things  the  girl  was  inno- 
cent. But  she  realized  her  husband's  horror 
and  mistook  it  for  disgust.  She  pitched  for- 
ward unconscious  upon  the  floor  before  her 
husband  could  reach  her. 

The  history  of  pain  contains  no  more  ter- 
rible chapter.  That  night  the  dying  girl 
told  the  French  officials  and  her  husband  the 
crimes  and  indignities  to  which  she  had  been 
subjected.  Two  other  babes  had  been  born 
under  German  brutality,  and  both  had  died, 
even  as  this  infant  would  die,  and  when  a 
few  days  later  her  husband  buried  her  he  was 
another  man.  The  iron  in  him  had  become 
steel.  The  blade  of  intellect  had  become  a 
two-edged  sword.  His  strength  had  become 
the  strength  of  ten.  He  decided  not  to  sur- 
vive this  war.  Going  back  to  the  front,  he 
consecrated  his  every  day  to  one  task — to 
kill  Germans  and  save  other  women  from 
the  foulest  degenerates  that  have  ever  cursed 
the  face  of  the  earth. 


8.     An  American  Knight  in  France 

Coming  around  the  corner  of  the  street  in 
a  little  French  village  near  Toul,  I  beheld  an 
incident  that  explained  the  all  but  adoring 
1 20 


An  American  Knight  in  France 

love  given  to  our  American  boys  by  the 
French  children.  The  women  and  the  girls 
of  that  region  had  suffered  unspeakable 
things  at  the  hands  of  the  German  swine. 
Photographs  were  taken  of  the  dead  bodies 
of  girls  that  can  never  be  shown.  The  terror 
of  the  women  at  the  very  approach  of  the 
German  was  beyond  all  words.  The  very 
words  "  Les  Boches  "  send  the  blood  from 
the  cheeks  of  the  children.  The  women  of 
the  Dakotas  on  hearing  that  the  Sioux 
Indians  were  on  the  war-path  with  their 
scalping  knives  were  never  so  terrified  as 
the  French  girls  are  on  hearing  the  German 
soldiers  are  on  the  march.  Even  the  little 
children  have  black  rings  under  their  eyes, 
with  a  strained,  tense  expression  as  they 
stand  tremulous  and  ready  to  run. 

On  the  sidewalk  near  me  was  a  little 
French  girl  of  about  six,  with  her  little 
brother,  perhaps  four  years  of  age.  Sud- 
denly around  the  corner  came  an  American 
boy  in  khaki.  He  was  swinging  forward 
with  step  sure  and  alert.  The  children 
turned,  but  there  was  no  terror  in  their  eyes 
and  no  fear  in  their  hearts.  They  did  not 
know  the  American  soldier ;  never  before 
had  they  seen  his  face,  but  his  khaki  meant 

121 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

safety.  It  meant  a  shield  lifted  between  the 
German  monster  and  themselves.  Forgetting 
everything,  the  little  French  girl  started  on 
a  run  towards  the  American  soldier,  while 
her  little  brother  came  hobbling  after.  She 
ran  straight  to  the  American  boy,  flung  her 
arms  around  his  legging,  rubbed  her  cheek 
against  his  trousers  and  patted  his  knee  with 
her  little  hands.  A  moment  later  when  her 
little  brother  came  up  the  American  boy 
stooped  down,  lifted  the  boy  and  girl  into 
his  arms,  and  while  they  were  screaming 
with  delight  carried  them  across  to  a  little 
shop,  and  found  for  them  two  tiny  little 
cakes  of  chocolate,  the  only  sweet  that 
could  be  had.  The  French  children  under- 
stand. 

The  German  motto  was :  "  Frightfulness 
and  terrorism  are  the  very  essence  of  our 
new  warfare." 

Pershing's  charge  was  :  "  You  will  protect 
all  property,  safeguard  all  lives,  lift  a  shield 
above  the  aged,  be  most  courteous  to  the 
women,  most  tender  and  gentle  to  the  chil- 
dren." 

In  France  our  boys  have  lifted  a  shield 
above  the  poor  and  the  weak,  and,  having 
given  service,  they  are  receiving  a  degree  of 

122 


An  American  Soldier's  Grave  in  France 

love  beyond  measure ;  but  there  is  no  danger 
that  they  will  be  spoiled  by  the  adulation  of 
the  French  women  and  children,  who  rank 
them  with  the  knights  and  the  heroes  of  old. 


9.     An    American    Soldier's    Grave    in 
France 

One  August  morning  I  was  in  the  wheat 
fields  near  Eoye.  Somewhere  in  that  field 
the  body  of  a  noble  American  boy  was  lying. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Yirginia;  his  mother  and  his  sister  had  a 
host  of  friends  in  my  old  home  city,  Chicago. 
Guided  by  a  white-haired  priest,  out  in  the 
wheat  we  found  at  last  a  little  mound  with  a 
part  of  a  broken  airplane  lying  thereupon. 
I  pulled  the  rest  of  his  machine  upon  his 
grave  and  learned  that  when  the  French 
boys  picked  him  up  they  found  that  four 
explosive  bullets  had  struck  him  while  flying 
in  the  air  after  his  victory  over  many  Ger- 
man enemies. 

With  my  knife  I  cut  a  sheaf  of  golden 

grain  and  an  armful  of  scarlet  poppies  and 

said  a  prayer  for  the  boy  and  his  mother  and 

his  sister. 

Standing  there  in  the  rain  I  wrote  a  letter 

123 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

to  those  who  loved  him,  saying :  "  When  you 
see  this  head  of  wheat,  say  to  yourself  '  One 
grain  going  into  the  ground  shall  in  fifteen 
summers  ripen  into  bread  enough  to  feed 
sixteen  hundred  millions  of  the  family  of 
men.'  When  you  look  at  this  pressed  poppy, 
say,  '  His  blood  like  red  rain  went  to  the 
root  to  make  the  flowers  crimson  and  beauti- 
ful for  all  the  world ;  soon  the  fields  of 
France  shall  wave  like  a  Garden  of  God, 
and  peace  and  plenty  shall  dwell  forever 
there.  "  Without  shedding  of  blood  there  is 
no  remission."  Wine  means  the  crushing  of 
the  grapes.  At  great  price  our  fathers 
bought  Liberty.'  " 

Two  thousand  years  ago  Cicero,  sobbing 
above  the  dead  body  of  his  daughter  Tullia, 
exclaimed :  "  Is  there  a  meeting  place  for 
the  dead  ?  "  AVhat  becomes  of  our  soldier 
boys  who  died  on  the  threshold  of  life  ? 
This  is  life's  hardest  problem.  Where  is 
that  young  Tullia  so  dear  to  that  gifted 
Roman  orator  ?  Where  is  that  young 
musician  Mozart  ?  Where  is  young  Keats  ? 
And  where  is  Shelley?  And  where  are 
young  McConnell  and  Rupert  Brooke  and 
young  Asquith  ?  And  ten  thousand  more 
of  those  young  men  with  genius.  Where  also 
124 


^*  These  Flowers,  Sir  '* 

is  that  young  Carpenter  of  Nazareth,  dead  at 
thirty  years  of  age  ? 

The  answer  is  in  this :  They  have  passed 
through  the  black  waters  and  have  come 
into  the  summer  land.  There  they  have 
been  met  by  the  heroes  coming  out  with 
trumpets  and  banners  to  bring  them  into  a 
world  unstained  by  the  smoke  and  din  of 
battle.  There  they  will  write  their  books, 
invent  their  tools,  complete  their  songs  and 
guide  the  darkling  multitudes  who  come  in  out 
of  Africa,  out  of  the  islands  of  the  sea,  into  the 
realm  of  perfect  knowledge,  love  and  peace. 

lo.     "These  Flowers,  Sir,   I   Will  Lay 
Them  Upon  My  Son's  Grave  " 
Last    August,  at  an  assembly  in  Paris, 
Ambassador    Sharp  held   a   little  company 
spellbound,  while  he  related  several  incidents 
of  his  investigations  in  the  devastated  region 
near    Eoye.     One    afternoon    the     captain 
stopped   his   military  automobile   upon   the 
edge  of  what  had  once  been  a  village.     Sur- 
veyors were  tracing  the  road  and  making 
measurements  in  the  hope  of  establishing  the 
former  location  of  the  cellar  and  the  house 
that   stood  above  it.     An  old  gray-haired 
125 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

Frenchman  had  the  matter  in  charge.  He 
had  lost  the  cellar  of  his  house.  Also,  the 
trees  that  had  stood  upon  his  front  sidewalk, 
also  his  vines  and  fruit  trees.  His  story  as 
stated  by  Ambassador  Sharp  was  most 
pathetic.  The  old  man  had  retired  from 
business  to  the  little  town  of  his  childhood. 
When  it  became  certain  that  the  Germans 
would  take  the  village,  the  man  pried  up  a 
stone  slab  in  the  sidev/alk  and  buried  his 
mone}'',  far  out  of  sight.  A  long  time  passed 
by.  When  the  Hindenburg  plans  were 
completed,  the  Germans  made  their  retreat. 
Among  other  refugees  who  returned  was 
the  aged  Frenchman.  To  his  unbounded 
amazement  the  old  man  could  not  locate  the 
site  of  his  old  home.  In  bombarding  the 
little  village,  the  Germans  dropped  huge 
shells.  These  shells  fell  into  the  cellar,  and 
blew  the  brick  walls  away.  Other  shells  fell 
in  the  front  yard,  and  blew  the  trees  out  by 
the  roots.  Later  other  shells  exploding  blew 
dirt  back  into  the  other  excavations.  Little 
by  little,  the  ground  was  turned  into  a  mass 
of  mud.  'Not  a  single  landmark  remained. 
Finally  the  old  man  conceived  the  idea  of 
beginning  back  on  the  country  road,  and 
measuring  what  he  thought  v»^ould  have  been 
126 


"  These  Flowers,  Sir  " 

the  distance  to  his  garden.  But  even  that 
device  failed  him.  For  the  huge  shells  had 
blown  the  stone  slab  into  atoms,  scattered 
his  buried  treasure,  and  left  the  man  in  his 
old  age  penniless  and  heart-broken. 

Long  ago  Dumas  represented  the  man 
who  had  taken  too  much  wine  as  trying  in 
vain  to  enter  his  own  home,  explaining  to 
his  inebriated  friend  that  the  keyhole  was 
lost.  But  think  of  a  cellar  that  is  lost! 
Think  of  shade  trees,  whose  very  roots  have 
disappeared  !  Think  of  a  lovely  little  French 
garden  with  its  roses  and  vines,  and  fruit 
trees,  all  gone !  "  Why,  the  very  well  was 
with  difficulty  located,"  said  the  Ambassa- 
dor. But  after  all,  the  loss  of  buried  treas- 
ure that  could  never  be  found  is  only  a 
faint  emblem  of  the  loss  of  human  bodies 
and  human  minds.  Think  of  the  soldiers 
who  have  returned  to  find  that  the  young 
wife  or  daughter  whom  they  loved  has  dis- 
appeared forever  !  And  think  of  the  wives 
and  sweethearts  who  have  received  word 
from  their  officers  that  the  great  shell  ex. 
ploded  and  killed  the  lover,  but  that  no 
fragment  of  his  body  could  be  found ! 
During  one  day  Mr.  Chamberlain  and  my- 
self were  driven  through  twenty-four  series 
127 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

of  ruins,  that  once  had  been  towns  and  vil- 
lages, but  where  there  was  nothing  left  but 
cellars  filled  with  twisted  iron  and  blackened 
rafters.  Already,  men  are  anticipating  the 
hour  of  victory  and  talking  about  the  recon- 
struction of  the  devastated  regions,  the  en- 
forced service  of  a  million  German  facto- 
ries, building  up  what  once  they  had  torn 
down.  But  the  restoring  of  houses,  the 
restoration  of  factory  and  schoolhouse,  of 
church  and  gallery,  represent  a  material  re- 
covery. But  the  other  day,  a  French  woman 
was  invited  before  the  general  who  deco- 
rated the  widow  and  praised  her,  returning  to 
her  the  thanks  of  France,  in  that  her  last  and 
seventh  son  had  just  been  killed.  Her  re- 
sponse was  one  of  the  most  moving  things  in 
history.  "  I  have  given  France  my  all. 
These  flowers,  ah,  sir,  I  have  but  one  use  for 
them.  I  will  take  them  out,  and  lay  them 
on  my  son's  grave." 

1 1 .     The  Courage  of  Clemenceau 

One  Sunday  afternoon,  last  August,  in 
Paris,  Alexandre,  head  of  the  Fine  Arts  De- 
partment of  the  Government,  brought  me 
an  invitation  from  Rodin  to  visit  his  studio. 
We  found  the  successor  to  Michael  Angelo 
128 


The  Courage  of  Clemenceau 

turning  over  in  his  hand  an  exquisite  little 
head  of  Minerva,  goddess  of  wisdom,  carved 
with  the  perfection  of  a  lily  or  a  rose.  "  He 
is  always  studying  something,"  exclaimed 
the  author.  But  what  Kodin  wanted  us  to 
see  was  his  head  of  Clemenceau,  When  the 
covering  was  lifted,  there  stood  the  very 
embodiment  of  the  man  who  is  supreme  in 
France  to-day, — Clemenceau.  The  sculp- 
tor's face  kindled  and  lighted  up.  "  The 
lion  of  France ! "  How  massive  the  fea- 
tures !  How  glorious  the  neck  and  the 
shoulders  !  Clemenceau  makes  me  think  of 
a  stag,  holding  the  wolves  at  bay,  while  his 
herd  finds  safety  in  flight.  He  makes  me 
think  of  the  lion,  roaring  in  defence  of  his 
whelps.  Our  descendants  will  say,  of  a 
truth  there  were  giants  in  those  days,  and 
among  the  giants  we  must  make  a  large 
place  for  Clemenceau. 

The  invincible  courage  of  Clemenceau  is  in 
the  challenge  he  has  just  flung  out  to  the 
enemies  of  France.  Keduced  to  simple 
terms  it  comes  to  this, — "  It  is  said  that  the 
Germans  can  get  within  bombing  distance  of 
Paris,  or  reach  the  capital,  providing  they 
are  willing  to  pay  the  price.  Well, — the 
Allies  can  break  through  the  German  line 
129 


In  France  the  Immortal ! 

and  gain  the  Rhine,  providing  they  are 
willing  to  pay  the  price.  To  destroy  Paris 
means  a  price  of  750,000  Germans  at  least. 
The  probabilities  are  that  so  heavy  a  price 
would  mean  a  political  revolution  in  Ger- 
many. But  what  if  Ludendorfif  gets  to  Paris  ? 
Rome  was  twice  destroyed,  and  later  the 
city  of  brick  was  rebuilt  as  a  city  of  marble. 
Nearly  fifty  years  ago  the  people  of  Paris 
destroyed  their  own  city,  at  an  expense  of 
hundreds  of  millions  of  francs.  The  motive 
back  of  the  destruction  was  the  desire  to  re- 
place an  old  and  ugly  city  by  a  new  and  the 
most  beautiful  city  in  the  world.  Fire  des- 
troyed Chicago,  intellect  rebuilt  it, — earth- 
quake and  flame  levelled  San  Francisco, 
courage  restored  the  ruins.  Enemies  may 
destroy  Paris,  genius  and  French  art  and 
skill  and  industry  and  will,  will  replace  it. 
Our  eyes  are  fixed  on  the  goal,  namely,  the 
crushing  of  Prussianism.  What  if  Paris 
must  decrease?  It  will  only  mean  that 
civilization  in  France,  and  humanity,  will  in- 
crease." Reduced  to  the  simplest  terms,  that 
is  the  substance  of  Clemenceau's  appeal. 
Never  was  there  courage  more  wonderful. 
Not  even  Leonidas  at  Thermopylae  ever 
breathed  nobler  sentiments.  That  is  why 
130 


The  Courage  of  Clemenceau 

Paris  is  safe  to-day.  That  is  why  France  is 
secure.  That  is  why  we  await  with  confi- 
dence and  quietness  the  next  great  offensive 
for  the  Germans. 

In  her  darkest  hour  what  France  and  the 
world  needed  was  a  hero,  a  man  of  oak  and 
rock,  a  great  heart,  a  lion, — and  the  world 
found  such  a  man  in  Clemenceau.  Nothing 
fascinates  the  listeners  like  tales  of  courage. 
Not  even  stories  of  love  and  eloquence  have 
such  a  charm  for  children  and  youth.  Many 
of  us  remember  that  in  our  childhood  the 
crippled  soldier  of  the  Civil  War  became  a 
living  college,  teaching  bravery  to  the  boys 
of  the  little  town.  For  months  Clemenceau 
has  been  going  up  and  down  France,  hearten- 
ing the  people.  This  Prime  Minister  with 
his  great  massive  head,  the  roaring  voice, 
the  clenched  fist,  is  an  exhilarating  spectacle. 
That  hero  of  Switzerland,  William  Tell,  left 
behind  him  a  tradition  that  it  meant  much 
to  him  to  waken  each  morning  and  find 
Mont  Blanc  standing  firm  in  its  place.  Not 
otherwise  all  patriots,  soldiers,  and  lovers  of 
their  fellow  men  to-day  can  look  on  the  great 
French  statesman  and  patriot  and  gather 
comfort  and  courage  from  the  fact  that  he 
still  stands  firmly  in  his  place. 
131 


OUR 

BRITISH  ALLIES 


1.     "  Gott  Strafe  England  "— "  and  Scot- 
land " 

AT  the  crossroads  near  the  city  of  Ypres 
is  a  sign-board  giving  the  directions 
and  the  distances  to  various  towns.  One 
day  the  Germans  captured  that  highway. 

There  was  a  man  in  the  company  who 
had  lived  in  some  German-American  city 
of  the  United  States.  He  knew  that  but 
for  England  Germany  would  have  gotten 
through  to  the  Channel  towns  and  looted 
Paris.  Climbing  up  on  the  sign-board  that 
German-American  wrote  in  good  plain  Eng- 
lish these  words :  "  God England  ! " 

That  afternoon  the  Australian  and  the  New 
Zealand  army  pushed  the  Germans  back  and 
recaptured  the  highway.  Among  other  sol- 
diers was  a  Scotsman  named  Sandy. 

He  read  the  sign,  "  God England  !  " 

with  ever  increasing  anger.  Finally  he  flung 
132 


"  Gott  Strafe  England  "— "  and  Scotland  " 

his  arms  and  legs  around  the  sign-post,  pulled 
himself  ujd  to  the  top  and,  while  his  com- 
panions watched  him,  they  saw  him  do  a 
most  amazing  thing. 

They  were  cheering  him  because  they  ex- 
pected him  to  rub  out  the  word  "  England." 
But  not  Sandy!  Holding  on  by  his  left 
hand,  with  his  right  Sandy  added  to  the 

words  "God  England!"  these  words, 

"  and  Scotland." 

He  felt  that  it  was  an  outrage  that  Scot- 
land should  be  overlooked  in  any  good  thing. 
Blessed  was  the  people  who  had  won  the 
distinction  of  being  hated  by  the  German, 
and  therefore  Sandy  added  the  words  "  and 
Scotland  " ! 

Now  Scotland  deserved  that  high  praise, 
"When  the  historian  comes  to  write  the  full 
story  of  this  great  war  it  will  make  a  large 
place  for  the  words  "  and  Scotland."  Won- 
derful the  heroism  of  the  British  army ! 
Marvellous  their  achievements  !  But  who  is 
at  the  head  of  it?  A  great  Scotsman,  Sir 
Douglas  Haig. 

What  stories  fill  the  pages  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  English  sailors  ever  since  the  days 
of  Nelson,  standing  on  the  deck  of  the  Vic- 
tory, down  to  the  battle  of  Jutland !  But 
133 


Our  British  Allies 

that  gallant  Scot,  Admiral  Beatty,  holds  the 
centre  of  the  stage  to-day.  There  came  a 
critical  moment  also  when  a  man  of  intel- 
lect and  a  great  heart  must  represent  Great 
Britain  in  her  greatest  crisis  in  the  United 
States,  and  in  that  hour  they  sent  a  Scots- 
man, Arthur  James  Balfour,  philosopher, 
metaphysician,  theologian,  statesman,  diplo- 
mat and  seer. 

And  what  shall  one  more  say  save  that 
the  finances  of  this  war  have  been  controlled 
by  a  Scotch  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
and  her  railways  organized  by  a  Scotch  in- 
ventor. Wonderful  the  achievements  of 
England — that  "dear,  dear  land."  Marvel- 
lous the  contribution  of  Wales,  through  men 
like  the  Prime  Minister,  Lloyd  George  ! 

Who  can  praise  sufficiently  the  heroes  of 
Canada,  Australia  and  New  Zealand?  In 
Ireland,  for  the  moment,  things  are  in  a 
muddle.  "What  is  the  trouble  with  the 
Emerald  Isle  ?  "  was  the  question,  to  which 
the  Irishman  made  instant  reply :  "  Oh,  in 
South  Ireland  we  are  all  Koman  Catholics, 
and  in  North  Ireland  we  are  all  Protestants, 
and  I  wish  to  heaven  we  were  all  agnos- 
tics, and  then  we  could  live  together  like 
Christians." 

134 


"  England  Shall  Not  Starve  " 

But  Ireland  will  soon  iron  out  her  troubles. 
To  the  achievements  of  the  various  people  of 
the  great  British  Empire  let  us  make  a  large 
place  for  the  contributions  of  Scotland.  The 
Germans  hate  with  a  deadly  hatred  any 
country  and  any  race  that  has  stopped  them 
in  their  headlong  career  towards  crime. 

But  the  next  time  that  a  German-American 
has  gone  back  to  Berlin  and  has  reached  the 
western  front  and  puts  up  a  sign  reading 
"  Gott  strafe  England  "  let  him  not  fail  to 
add  these  words,  "  and  Scotland." 


2.     "  England  Shall  Not  Starve  " 

Despite  all  warnings,  rumours,  and  alarms, 
no  dire  peril  known  to  passengers  disturbed 
our  voyage.  The  nearest  approach  came  on 
a  morning  when  the  ship  was  two  hundred 
miles  off  the  coast  of  Ireland. 

The  steamer  was  making  a  letter  S  and 
constantly  zigzagging,  when  suddenly  the 
lookout  called  down  that  there  was  a  row- 
boat  dead  ahead.  With  instant  decision  the 
officer  changed  the  ship's  course  and  we 
passed  the  life-boat  a  half  mile  upon  our 
right. 

The  usual  rumour  started  up  and  down 
135 


Our  British  Allies 

the  deck  that  there  were  dead  bodies  in  the 
boat,  but  the  petty  ofiScer  answered  ray 
question  by  saying  that  it  was  2,000  lives 
against  one  possible  life  that  every  drifting 
boat  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  German 
decoy ;  that  if  the  steamer  stopped  to  send 
sailors  with  a  life-boat  to  investigate  it  would 
simply  give  a  German  submarine  a  chance  to 
come  up  with  torpedoes.  At  that  very  mo- 
ment one  of  the  men  beside  the  gun  sighted 
a  periscope  and  a  moment  later  the  gun 
roared  and  then  boomed  a  second  time  and 
then  a  third.  Because  the  object  disap- 
peared, all  passengers  said  it  was  a  sub- 
marine, but  the  officers  said  it  was  a  piece 
of  driftwood,  tossed  up  on  the  crest  of  a 
wave. 

That  night,  on  deck,  a  close  friend  of  the 
purser  came  for  an  hour's  walk  around  the 
deck.  The  memory  of  those  three  shots 
rested  heavily  upon  his  mind. 

It  seemed  that  some  months  before  he  had 
been  a  purser  on  an  East  Indian  liner.  On 
the  home  voyage,  twenty-four  hours  after 
they  left  Cairo,  when  well  out  into  the 
Mediterranean,  this  officer  went  below  for 
an  hour's  rest.  Suddenly  a  torpedo  struck 
the  steamer.  The  force  of  the  explosion 
136 


"  England  Shall  Not  Starve  " 

literally  blew  the  purser  out  of  his  berth. 
Grabbing  some  clothes,  he  ran  through  the 
narrow  passageway,  already  ankle  deep  in 
rushing  water.  The  great  ship  carried 
several  thousand  soldiers  and  a  few  women 
who  were  coming  home  from  India  or  from 
Egypt.  Despite  the  fact  that  all  realized  the 
steamer  would  go  down  within  a  few  min- 
utes, there  was  no  confusion  and  the  soldiers 
lined  up  as  if  on  parade. 

The  boat  went  down  in  about  eight  min- 
utes, but  every  one  of  the  women  and  chil- 
dren had  on  their  life-preservers  and  were 
given  first  places  in  the  life-boats  that  had 
not  been  ruined  by  the  explosion. 

The  purser  said  that  he  decided  to  jump 
from  the  deck  and  swim  as  far  as  possible 
from  the  steamer,  but  despite  his  struggles 
he  was  drawn  under  and  came  up  half  un- 
conscious to  find  himself  surrounded  with 
swimming  men  and  sinking  rowboats  that 
were  being  shelled  by  the  German  sub- 
marine. Suddenly  a  machine-gun  bullet 
passed  through  his  right  shoulder  and  left 
an  arm  helpless.  For  half  an  hour  he  lay 
with  his  left  arm  upon  a  floating  board,  held 
up  by  his  life-preserver.  The  submarine  had 
disappeared.  At  distances  far  removed 
137 


Our  British  Allies 

were  three  of  the  ship's  boats  and  one  raft. 
It  was  plain  that  there  was  no  help  in 
sight. 

Near  him  was  a  woman,  to  whom  he 
called.  The  purser  told  the  woman  that  he 
had  been  shot  in  the  right  arm  and  could  not 
help  her  nor  come  near  to  her.  She  an- 
swered that  it  was  good  to  hear  his  voice. 

The  water  was  very  cold.  He  began  to 
be  alarmed  and  reasoned  as  to  whether  the 
cold  water  would  not  stay  the  bleeding. 
From  time  to  time  he  would  call  out  to  the 
woman  to  keep  up  hope  and  courage  and  not 
to  struggle,  but  at  last  he  saw  she  was  ex- 
hausted. With  infinite  effort,  swimming 
with  his  left  arm,  he  managed  to  draw  near 
to  her. 

"  Is  drowning  very  painful  ?  "  the  woman 
asked. 

"No,"  answered  the  ofiicer.  "Once  the 
water  rushes  into  the  lungs  one  smothers." 

To  which  the  English  girl  answered, 
"  Then  I  think  I  will  not  wait  any  longer. 
Good-bye !     Good  luck  !  " 

Utterly  exhausted  she  let  her  head  fall 
over  and  in  a  moment  the  life-preserver  was 
on  the  top  and  that  was  all  that  he  saw. 

"  The  next  thing  I  remember,"  said  the 
138 


"  England  Shall  Not  Starve  " 

officer,  "  was  waking  up  to  find  a  nurse  try- 
ing to  pour  a  stimulant  down  my  throat." 

A  destroyer  had  come  up  in  response  to 
the  signals  for  help  and  picked  up  the 
survivors. 

For  months  he  was  in  the  hospital  before 
he  could  be  carried  to  England.  Even  now 
he  was  not  able  to  lift  a  hat  from  his  head 
with  his  right  arm,  but  he  could  write  a  little. 
This  was  his  first  voyage  to  test  his  strength 
to  prove  to  the  Government  that  he  could 
take  his  old  task  as  purser. 

"How  did  you  feel,  purser,  when  you 
heard  that  cannon  roar  this  morning  against 
that  submarine  ?  " 

You  should  have  seen  the  fire  flash  in  the 
man's  eyes. 

"  How  did  I  feel  ?  "  answered  the  officer. 
"  I  felt  like  a  race-horse  snuffing  the  battle 
from  afar.  Let  them  sink  this  ship^I  will 
take  another.  Let  them  sink  every  steamer, 
I'll  take  a  sailing  vessel.  Let  them  sink  all 
our  sailing  vessels,  we  will  betake  ourselves 
to  tugs. 

"  We  have  5,000  steamers  that  come  and 

go  between  any  Sunday  and  Sunday.     Some 

are  old  cattle-boats,  some  are  sea  tramps  and 

some  are  ocean  hounds.     They  have  carried 

139 


Our  British  Allies 

10,000,000  men  and  20,000,000  tons  of  war 
materials,  and  8,000,000  tons  of  iron  ore  and 
^3,000,000,000  worth  of  goods. 

"  We  have  lent  six  hundred  ships  to 
France  and  four  hundred  ships  to  Italy. 
Our  ancestors  smashed  the  Spanish  Armada. 
Our  grandfathers  baffled  Napoleon  and  their 
sons  defy  the  Hun  and  his  submarine. 

"  When  I  go  down  my  son  will  take  my 
place.  When  Germany  beats  England  there 
will  not  be  an  Englishman  left  to  tell  how  it 
happened." 

Then,  leaning  over  the  railing  of  the  ship, 
the  officer  pointed  to  the  setting  sun,  and  lo, 
right  out  of  the  sea,  sailing  into  our  sight, 
came  a  fleet  of  English  merchantmen,  laden 
with  wheat,  and  the  purser  said : 

"By  God's  help,  England  shall  not 
starve." 


3.    German-Americans  Who  Vilify  Eng- 
land 
The  biography  of  Grant  holds  many  excit- 
ing incidents.     One  of  them  concerns  a  spy 
who  nearly  wrecked  Grant's  plans.    It  seems 
that  a  rumour  came  saying  that  Sheridan 
had  been  defeated  at  Winchester.     A  tele- 
140 


German- Americans  Who  Vilify  England 

gram  came  a  few  minutes  later  saying  that 
Sheridan  was  recovering  from  the  disaster. 
Meanwhile,  Grant  noticed  one  of  his  young 
assistants  was  endeavouring  in  vain  to  con- 
ceal his  pleasure  over  the  news  of  Sheridan's 
defeat.  That  feeling  seemed  inexplicable  to 
Grant.  The  Commander-in-Chief  had  three 
armies — Sherman's  in  the  South,  Sheridan's 
in  the  Yalley  of  the  Shenandoah,  and  his 
own  army  of  the  Potomac.  How  could  a 
young  aide  rejoice  over  Sheridan's  defeat 
without  down  in  his  heart  wanting  Grant 
defeated,  the  Union  destroyed,  and  secession 
made  a  success?  Grant  became  more  and 
more  alarmed.  He  told  one  of  his  associates 
to  follow  this  youth,  whom  he  feared  was  a 
spy.  Shortly  afterwards  the  man  was  dis- 
covered sending  signals,  was  tried,  the  proofs 
of  his  treason  uncovered,  and  finally  he  was 
executed. 

To-day  certain  German- Americans  never 
tire  of  announcing  their  Americanism.  Their 
favourite  expression  is  :  "  Germany  was  the 
Fatherland,  but  the  United  States  is  the 
wife."  Not  daring,  therefore,  to  attack  our 
Government,  afraid  to  confess  that  they  want 
Germany  to  succeed,  and  when  that  time 
comes  expect  to  hold  certain  offices  under 
141 


Our  British  Allies 

Germany,  they  spend  all  their  time  vilifying 
Great  Britain.  There  is  one  absolute  and 
invariable  test  of  the  German-American's 
treason  to  this  country,  and  that  is  bitter- 
ness towards  England,  because  England  is 
doing  all  she  can  to  prevent  Germany's  vic- 
tory. One  thing  has  saved  this  country 
during  four  years,  giving  us  a  chance  to 
prepare— Great  Britain's  fleet,  holding  Ger- 
many's battle-ships  behind  the  Kiel  Canal. 
To-day  our  Republic  is  defended  by  three 
armies — General  Pershing's,  Marshal  Foch's 
and  Marshal  Haig's.  But  whenever  a  Ger- 
man-American vilifies  Haig  and  attacks  Eng- 
land you  may  know  that  down  in  his  heart 
he  wants  Pershing  defeated,  the  United 
States  conquered,  and  Germany  made  vic- 
torious. The  German- American  who  vilifies 
Great  Britain  is  angry  because  Great  Britain 
has  prevented  Germany  from  loading  a  mil- 
lion German  veterans  upon  her  six  or  eight 
thousand  passenger  ships,  freight  ships,  sail- 
ing vessels  and  war  fleet,  and  sailing  to  New 
York  and  assessing  fifty  billion  dollars  in- 
demnity upon  us. 

In  a  certain  Western  State  a  German  pro- 
fessor of  electricity  resigned  from  his  insti- 
tution.    He  was  receiving  about  $3,000  a 
142 


German-Americans  Who  Vilify  England 

year.  Many  months  passed  b}'-.  One  day 
this  man  was  heard  defaming  England. 
"  England  has  destroyed  the  freedom  of  the 
seas.  England  controls  Gibraltar  and  the 
Suez  Canal.  England  is  the  great  land 
pirate.  England  is  the  world  butcher."  A 
Secret  Service  man  followed  the  German 
pi'ofessor,  and  found  that  he  was  working  as 
fireman  at  the  wireless  station  of  that  great 
city.  This  German  professor  of  electricity 
had  resigned  a  $3,000  a  year  position  to 
work  for  $75  a  month  as  fireman.  As  soon 
as  he  found  that  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment was  upon  his  track  he  fled  to  Mexico. 
This  spy's  camouflage  was  love  for  the  United 
States,  but  his  treason  was  revealed  through 
his  hatred  of  England.  That  man  should 
have  been  arrested  at  dark,  tried  at  mid- 
night, and  shot  at  daybreak. 

There  is  a  newspaper  reporter  in  this  coun- 
try. This  Germ  an- American  was  caught  by 
a  trick.  Another  reporter  faked  a  story, 
writing  out  on  his  typewriter  an  account 
of  several  German  submarines  getting  into 
the  harbour  of  Liverpool  and  blowing  up 
half  a  dozen  English  steamers  and  killing 
several  thousand  Englishmen,  and  this  Ger- 
man-American reporter  lifted  his  hands  into 
143 


Our  British  Allies 

the  air  in  glee,  and  in  the  presence  of  half  a 
dozen  fellow  reporters  shouted  :  "  I  knew  it ! 
I  knew  it !  I  knew  the  Germans  would 
smash  Hades  out  of  them ! "  In  that  mo- 
ment he  revealed  his  real  attitude  towards 
the  United  States.  Any  man  that  wants 
Admiral  Beatty  defeated  wants  the  Amer- 
ican transports  sunk  and  American  soldiers 
murdered.  That  reporter  should  also  have 
been  arrested  at  dark,  tried  at  midnight,  and 
shot  at  daybreak. 

In  another  city  there  is  a  young  Irish 
writer.  He  fulfills  all  the  proverbs  about 
the  crazy  Irishman.  In  connection  with  the 
Sinn  Fein  conspiracy  this  young  writer  pro- 
posed a  toast  to  the  memory  of  Sir  Eoger 
Casement,  the  success  of  the  revolution,  and 
poured  forth  such  bitterness  upon  England 
as  cannot  be  described  by  those  who  hate 
ingratitude  towards  a  country  that  has  given 
us  a  chance  to  prepare.  Wherever  that  man 
goes  he  carries  hate  with  him  towards  Great 
Britain.  His  atmosphere  is  malign ;  his 
presence  breathes  treason  towards  England. 
That  is  another  man  who  should  have  been 
arrested  at  dark,  tried  at  midnight,  and  shot 
at  daybreak.  No  man  can  serve  God  and 
Mammon.  No  man  can  be  faithful  to  the 
144 


British  vs.  American  Girls 

United  States  who  hates  England  and  loves 
Germany.  He  must  love  the  one  and  hate 
the  other ;  he  must  hold  to  the  one  and  de- 
spise the  crimes  of  the  other.  No  man  can 
serve  God  and  the  Allies,  Germany  and  the 
devil,  at  one  and  the  same  time. 


4.     British  vs.  American  Girls  in  Muni- 
tion Factories 

To-morrow  morning  at  eight  o'clock  one 
million  British  girls  will  enter  the  munition 
and  related  factories.  To-morrow  afternoon 
at  four  o'clock  another  million  girls  will 
enter  the  same  factories,  to  be  followed  at 
midnight  by  the  third  shift  of  women. 

These  factories  average  forty  feet  wide, 
and  end  to  end  would  be  100  feet  in  length. 
The  roar  of  the  machinery  is  never  silent  by 
day  or  night. 

In  one  factory  I  saw  a  young  woman  who 
was  closely  related,  through  her  grandfather, 
to  a  man  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Her  arms 
were  black  with  machine  oil,  her  hair  was 
under  a  rubber  cover,  she  wore  bloomers. 
Her  task  was  pouring  two  tons  of  molten 
steel  into  the  shell  moulds.  The  great  shells 
passed  from  the  hands  of  one  girl  to  another 
145 


Our  British  Allies 

until  the  fiftieth  girl,  1,500  feet  away,  fin- 
ished the  threads  into  which  the  cap's  screw 
was  fastened. 

Every  twenty-four  hours  these  women 
turn  out  more  small  calibre  cartridges  than 
all  England  did  the  first  year  of  this  war. 
Every  forty-eight  hours  they  turn  out  more 
large  cartridges  than  all  England  did  the 
first  year  of  this  war.  Every  six  days,  with 
the  help  of  men  not  fit  for  the  battle  front, 
they  turn  out  more  heavy  cannon  than  all 
England  did  the  first  year  of  this  war. 

They  have  sent  17,000,900  tons  of  ammu- 
nition to  the  front.  Their  shells  are  roaring 
on  five  battle  fronts  in  three  continents. 
When  the  British  boys  thrust  their  huge 
shells  into  the  cannon  these  boys  literally  re- 
ceive the  shells  at  the  hands  of  the  millions  of 
English  girls  who  are  passing  them  forward. 

Wonderful  the  heroism  of  the  British  sol- 
diers !  The  reason  why  the  men  fight  well 
at  the  front  is  because  there  are  women  at 
home  worth  fighting  for.  In  all  ages  battles 
have  been  won,  partly  by  the  strong  arm  of 
the  soldier,  but  chiefly  by  the  heart  that 
nerves  the  arm.  That  is  why  John  Kuskin 
once  said  that  "  the  woman  in  the  rear  gen- 
erally wins  the  victory  at  the  front." 
146 


British  vs.  American  Girls 

It  stirs  one's  sense  of  wonder  to  find  that 
all  classes  and  all  social  conditions  are  repre- 
sented in  these  factories.  Thousands  of 
young  school-teachers  have  left  the  school- 
room behind,  closed  the  book  and  desk  and 
gone  to  the  factory.  Tens  of  thousands  of 
young  wives  and  mothers  have  left  their 
little  children  with  the  grandmother.  Many 
rectors  and  clergymen  and  priests,  unfit  for 
service  at  the  front  by  reason  of  age,  work 
all  day  long  in  the  munition  factory.  Many 
a  professional  man  crowds  his  work  in  the 
office  that  he  may  reach  the  factory  for  at 
least  a  few  hours'  work  upon  shot  and  shell. 

One  day  in  France,  as  I  was  entering  the 
factory,  I  saw  perhaps  twenty  young  women 
come  out,  hurry  across  the  street  to  a  build- 
ing where  two  old  crippled  soldiers  were 
taking  care  of  the  little  children.  These 
young  mothers  nursed  their  babes,  looked 
after  the  other  children  and  then  hurried 
back  to  the  factory.  Every  minute  was 
precious ;  every  day  was  big  with  destiny. 
Their  young  husbands  and  brothers  and 
lovers,  when  the  German  push  came,  must 
have  their  cartridges  and  shells  ready  and  in 
abundance. 

"Watching  these  women  with  their  strained, 
147 


Our  British  Allies 

anxious  faces — women  who  cut  each  thread 
in  the  shell  with  the  accuracy  of  the  expert 
— you  could  see  the  lips  of  the  woman  mur- 
muring, and  needed  no  confession  from  her 
that  she  was  silently  praying  for  the  man 
who  would  use  this  weapon  to  defend  her 
beloved  France,  her  aged  mother  and  her 
little  child. 

"When  the  beast  is  slain  and  the  Potsdam 
gang  tried  and  executed  for  their  crimes, 
and  the  boys  come  home  with  trumpets  and 
banners,  the  ovations  will  be  for  the  sol- 
diers ;  but  after  the  soldiers  have  had  their 
parade  and  their  honour  and  their  ovation 
on  the  first  day  of  the  triumph,  there  should 
be  a  second  great  parade,  in  which,  while 
the  soldiers  stand  on  the  streets  and  observe, 
and  the  merchants  and  working  men  and  the 
professional  classes  stand  as  spectators,  down 
the  street  shall  march  the  munition  girls, 
who  fashioned  the  weapons  with  which  the 
soldiers  slew  the  common  enemy. 

For  while  the  boys  at  the  front  have  de- 
fended liberty  the  girls  at  home  have  armed 
the  soldiers.  ISTeither  one  without  the  other 
could  have  made  the  world  safe  for  democ- 
racy. 

Through    the    imagination   these   women 
148 


British  vs.  American  Girls 

have  a  right,  while  they  toil,  to  watch  the 
shell  complete  their  work.  The  smith  who 
forges  the  chain  for  the  ship's  anchor  has  a 
right  to  exult  when  he  looks  out  through  his 
imagination  upon  the  great  boat  held  firm  by 
his  chain  in  the  hour  when  the  storm  threat- 
ened to  hurl  the  craft  upon  the  rocks.  .The 
inventor  has  a  right  to  say  :  "  That  granary 
full  of  wheat  is  mine ;  I  invented  the 
reaper."  The  physician  has  a  right  to  re- 
joice over  the  battle  and  victory  over  the 
youth  whose  life  was  saved  by  the  surgeon's 
skill.  Not  otherwise,  the  munition  girl  has 
a  right  when  the  long  day  of  battle  is  over 
to  say  :  "  I  safeguarded  that  cottage ;  I 
lifted  a  shield  above  that  little  child;  I 
built  a  wall  against  the  cathedral  and  the 
gallery  and  the  homes  of  yonder  city." 

For  American  girls  of  vision  there  is  noth- 
ing that  they  so  much  desire  as  the  im- 
mediate condemnation  by  our  Government 
of  10,000  luxury-producing  plants  in  this 
country,  which  should  immediately  be  taken 
over  by  our  Government  for  munition  pur- 
poses, and  before  the  daybreak  of  the  first 
morning  there  would  be  ten  million  Ameri- 
can girls  standing  before  the  doors,  trying  to 
break  their  way  in  to  obtain  a  chance  to 
149 


Our  British  Allies 

fashion  the  shells  that  would  protect  Amer- 
ican boys  in  danger  at  the  front. 


5.     The  Wolves'  Den  on  Vimy  Ridge 

The  bloodiest  battle  of  1917  was  fought 
on  the  slopes  of  Vimy  Ridge,  That  ridge  is 
seven  and  a  half  miles  long  and  is  shaped 
like  a  dog's  hind  leg.  Lifted  up  to  an  eleva- 
tion of  several  hundred  feet,  the  hill  not 
only  commands  an  outlook  upon  the  German 
lines  eastward,  but  protects  the  great  plains 
that  slope  westward  towards  the  EngUsh 
Channel. 

To  hold  that  ridge  the  Germans  con- 
structed a  vast  system  of  trenches,  barbed 
wire  barriers,  Portland  cement  pill-boxes 
and  underneath  the  ridge,  at  a  depth  of  sixty 
feet,  they  made  their  prisoners  dig  a  gallery 
seven  and  a  half  miles  long,  with  rooms  for 
the  oiRcers  opening  out  on  either  side  of  the 
long  passageways. 

One  morning  the  Canadian  troops  started 
up  the  long  sloping  hillside,  under  skies  that 
rained  cartridges,  shells  and  gas  bombs.  So 
terrific  was  the  machine-gun  fire  that  some 
cartridges  cut  trees  in  two  as  if  they  had 
been  cut  with  a  saw,  while  others  did  not  so 
150 


The  Wolves'  Den  on  Vimy  Ridge 

much  strike  the  Canadian  boys  as  cut  their 
bodies  into  two  parts. 

Lying  upon  their  faces  they  crawled  up 
the  hillside,  cutting  the  wires  as  they  crept 
forward.  Not  until  the  second  afternoon 
did  the  shattered  remnants  reach  the  Ger- 
man trench  that  crowned  the  hillcrest.  Then 
they  plunged  down  into  the  trench,  while 
the  Germans  rushed  down  the  long  stairs 
into  the  underground  chamber  and  fled 
through  the  lower  openings  of  their  long 
gallery  northward  towards  safety. 

Not  until  the  Canadian  officers  led  us  into 
one  of  those  German  chambers  did  we  un- 
derstand the  black  tragedy.  The  room  was 
shell-proof.  The  soft  yellow  clay  was  shored 
up  by  rough  boards.  All  around  the  walls 
were  bunks.  In  that  chamber  the  German 
officers  had  kept  the  captive  French  and 
Belgian  girls.  There  were  two  cupboards 
standing  against  the  wall.  One  was  made 
of  rough  boards ;  the  other  was  a  large, 
exquisitely  carved  walnut  bureau  for  girls' 
garments.  "When  the  German  officers  fled 
from  the  trench  above  they  had  just  time  to 
escape  to  the  lower  shell-proof  rooms,  grab 
some  of  the  treasure  and  flee.  Unwilling 
to  give  these  captive  girls  their  freedom, 
151 


Our  British  Allies 

since  they  could  not  have  the  girls  they  de- 
termined that  their  French  and  Belgian  fa- 
thers and  sweethearts  should  not  recover 
them. 

There  was  just  time  during  the  excitement 
of  the  flight  to  unlock  the  door,  rush  in  and 
send  a  bullet  through  each  young  woman. 
A  few  minutes  later  the  Canadian  boys 
swarmed  through  the  long  connecting 
chambers  and  side  rooms. 

In  one  of  those  rooms  they  found  these 
young  women  now  dead  or  dying.  Gas 
bombs  had  already  been  flung  down  and 
the  rooms  were  foul  with  poisoned  air.  Pro- 
tected by  their  masks  the  Canadian  boys 
had  time  to  pick  up  these  girls  and  carry 
them  up  the  steps  into  the  open  air,  where 
they  laid  them  down  on  the  grass  in  the 
open  sunshine.  But  help  came  too  late. 
Beginning  with  an  attempt  to  murder  the 
souls  of  the  girls  the  German  officers  had 
ended  by  slaying  their  bodies. 

An  officer  saw  to  it  that  the  official 
photographer  kept  the  record  of  the  faces  of 
these  dead  girls.  Once  they  must  have  been 
divinely  beautiful,  for  all  were  lovely  be- 
yond the  average.  One  could  understand 
the  pride  and  joy  of  a  father  or  lover  when 
152 


The  Wolves'  Den  on  Vimy  Ridge 

he  looked  upon  the  young  girl's  face.  The 
slender  body  made  one  think  of  the  tall  lily 
stem,  crowned  with  that  flower  named  the  face 
and  glorious  head.  Strangely  enough  they 
seemed  to  sleep  as  if  peace  had  come,  after 
long  pain.   Plainly  death  had  been  longed  for. 

Weeks  passed  by.  The  photographs  of 
the  dead  girls  were  shown  in  the  hope  that 
if  possible  word  might  reach  their  parents, 
but  no  friend  had  been  found  to  recognize 
them.  One  day  a  Canadian  officer,  making 
slow  recovery  in  a  hospital  near  the  coast, 
was  asked  by  his  nurse  for  the  photograph. 

It  seemed  there  was  a  Belgian  woman 
working  in  the  hospital.  Her  village  had 
been  entirely  destroyed.  Her  home  was 
gone  and  all  whom  she  loved  had  disap- 
peared. By  some  accident  the  Red  Cross 
nurse  remembered  this  photograph  and  de- 
cided to  show  it  to  the  Belgian  woman  who 
had  passed  so  swiftly  from  abundance  and 
happiness  to  the  utmost  of  poverty  and 
heart-break.  Almost  unwillingly  at  first  the 
woman  looked  at  the  print.  A  moment 
later  she  held  the  picture  out  at  arm's 
length,  rose  to  her  feet,  then  drew  it  to  her 
lips  and  hugged  it  to  her  breast. 

With  streaming  eyes  she  almost  shouted, 
153 


Our  British  Allies 

"  Thank  God !  Julia  is  dead !  Thank  God  ! 
Julia  is  dead  !  Now  I  know  there  is  a  God 
in  Israel,  for  Julia  is  dead,  is  dead — is  dead  ! 
Thank  God !     Thank  God  !  " 

Though  for  a  long  time  the  doves  had 
been  in  the  clutches  of  the  German  hawks  ; 
though  for  a  long  time  the  lambs  had  been 
in  the  jaws  of  the  German  wolves  ;  when  all 
else  failed  death  came  and  released  the  lovely 
girls  from  the  clutch  of  German  assassins. 

6.     "  Why  Did  You  Leave  Us  in  Hell 
for  Two  Years  ?  " 

For  British  soldiers  it  had  been  a  long 
trying  day  on  Messines  Eidge.  For  many 
nights  the  boys  had  been  coming  up  towards 
the  front  trenches.  The  next  morning  at 
3 :  50  they  were  to  go  "  over  the  top  " ;  a 
feat  which  they  accomplished,  driving  in  a 
mile  and  a  half  deep,  on  a  long,  long  line, 
only  to  be  stopped  by  four  days  and  nights 
of  rain  that  drowned  the  trenches  and  drove 
them  back  out  of  the  flooded  valley  to  the 
hillside.  Because  the  Germans  knew  what 
must  come  the  next  day,  the  German  cannon 
were  trying  to  bomb  out  the  British  guns. 

That  night — tired  out — we  drove  back 
154 


''  Why  Did  You  Leave  Us  in  Hell?  " 

eighteen  miles  behind  the  line  for  one  good 
night's  sleep.  After  dinner  an  English  lieu- 
tenant told  me  this  tragic  tale : 

"It  was  an  April  night  last  spring.  All 
day  the  wind  and  fog  and  rain  had  been 
coming  in  from  the  North  Sea.  The  chill 
and  damp  went  into  the  very  marrow  of  the 
bones.  When  night  fell  a  few  of  us  officers 
crept  down  the  long  stair  into  a  shell-proof 
room.  There  we  had  our  pipes  and  gossiped 
about  the  events  of  the  day  and  talked 
with  the  French  captain,  our  guest,  who  was 
spending  a  week  studying  our  sector.  Finally 
the  time  came  when  we  must  go  back  into 
the  trench  to  take  our  turn  in  the  rain. 

"  We  were  putting  on  our  raincoats,  when 
in  my  happiness  I  said,  'Well,  men,  you 
should  congratulate  me.  One  'week  from 
to-night  I  shall  not  be  here  in  this  rain  and 
mud.  I  shall  be  home  in  England  and  have 
my  little  wife  and  my  baby  girl.  Just  one 
week !  It  seems  like  seven  eternities  instead 
of  seven  days  and  nights  ! ' 

"  I  little  dreamed  the  little  tragedy  that  I 
had  precipitated.  My  colonel  was  very  kind. 
He  told  me  that  he  would  have  his  per- 
mission in  three  more  months.  The  rest  of 
the  boys  also  said  nice  things.  Suddenly  we 
155 


Our  British  Allies 

realized  that  the  French  captain  was  act- 
ing very  strangely  and  saying  excited  things 
with  his  back  towards  us.  We  did  not 
know  how  we  had  insulted  him,  nor  could 
we  understand  what  had  happened.  Finally 
my  colonel  said  to  him  : 

" '  Captain,  I  hope  you  will  have  your 
vacation  soon  and  have  a  chance  to  go  home 
and  see  your  family.' 

"  He  turned  on  us  like  a  crazy  man.  He 
put  his  fists  in  the  air,  he  half  shouted  and 
half  sobbed  at  us. 

" '  How  do  you  men  dare  talk  to  me 
about  going  home  ?  Your  land  has  never 
been  invaded,  nor  your  families  ruined. 
Home!  How  can  I  go  home?  The  Ger- 
mans have  had  my  town  for  a  year.  In 
their  retreat  they  carried  away  my  little  girl 
and  my  young  wife,  and  now  the  priest  has 
gotten  word  to  me  that  in  six  weeks  my  little 
girl  and  my  young  wife  will  both  have  babes 
by  the  German  beast  who  carried  them  off.' 

"And  then  the  Frenchman  cursed  God 
and  cursed  the  devil !  Cursed  the  Kaiser 
and  cursed  the  Fatherland.  Oh,  it  was  so 
terrible.  Doctor,  I  often  wonder  how  Amer- 
icans could  have  left  the  women  and  girls  of 
Belgium  and  France  in  hell  for  two  and  a 
156 


"  War  Will  End  Within  Forty  Years  " 

half  years,  while  you  men  stood  in  safety 
and  in  peace." 

The  historian  will  find  it  hard  to  answer 
that  question.  History  will  have  it  to  say 
that  England  was  the  good  Samaritan  who 
helped  the  Belgians  who  had  fallen  among 
thieves,  while  Americans  were  among  those 
who  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 


7.     "  This  War  Will  End  Within  Forty 
Years  " 

A  Kew  Zealand  officer  was  giving  direc- 
tions to  a  group  of  his  soldiers.  They  were 
in  the  field  at  the  foot  of  Bapaume.  The 
immediate  task  was  that  of  cutting  and  roll- 
ing up  the  barbed  wire.  In  that  territory  the 
Germans  had  left  trenches  foul  with  fever, 
wells  filled  with  the  corpses  of  men  and 
horses,  springs  polluted  with  every  form  of 
filth,  but  worst  of  all,  the  barbed  wire  en- 
tanglements. Every  sharp  point  was  covered 
with  rust  and  threatened  lockjaw.  Looking 
in  every  direction,  the  whole  land  was 
yellow  with  the  barbed  wire.  The  work 
was  dangerous.  The  rebound  of  the  wire 
threatened  the  eye  with  its  vision,  threatened 
the  face  and  the  hand,  and  all  the  soldiers 
15; 


Our  British  Allies 

were  in  a  mood  of  rebellion.  In  an  angry 
mood,  the  officer  exclaimed,  "  There  are  a 
hundred  million  miles  of  German  barbed 
wire  in  France !  " 

And  when  later  I  asked  the  first  lieutenant 
how  long  this  war  would  last,  he  made  the 
instant  answer,  "  This  war  will  continue  forty 
years  more  !  One  year  for  the  fighting,  and 
thirty-nine  years  to  roll  up  the  wire." 

Because  every  soldier  at  the  front  hated 
the  wire  entanglements,  that  bright  sentence 
ran  up  and  down  the  entire  line  from  Bel- 
gium to  the  Swiss  frontier.  And  for  men 
of  experience  there  is  more  truth  in  the 
statement  than  one  would  at  first  blush 
think.  It  will  take  one  more  year  for  the 
fighting,  but  it  will  take  thirty-nine  years 
more  to  grow  the  shade  trees.  Five  cen- 
turies ago  the  French  began  to  develop  the 
love  of  the  beautiful.  On  either  side  of  the 
roads  running  across  the  land  they  planted 
two  rows  of  poplars,  oaks  or  elms.  When 
long  time  had  passed  the  fame  of  the  French 
roads  and  the  shade  trees  went  out  into  all 
the  earth.  Under  these  trees  the  French 
farmer  stopped  his  cart,  fed  his  horses  and 
refreshed  himself  beneath  the  shade.  Under 
these  trees  the  old  men  at  the  end  of  their 
158 


"  War  Will  End  Within  Forty  Years  " 

career  rested  themselves,  and  gossiped  about 
old  friends  that  had  gone. 

And  when  the  German  found  he  could  not 
hold  the  land  and  enjoy  the  shade  trees,  the 
splendid  orchards,  the  purple  vineyards,  he 
determined  that  the  Frenchman  should  not 
have  them,  and  so  he  lifted  the  axe  upon 
every  peach  and  pear,  plum  and  grape, 
cherry  and  gooseberry  tree.  Perhaps  it  was 
as  black  a  crime  to  murder  the  land  as  it  was 
to  murder  the  bodies  of  the  farmers,  since 
the  soul  is  immortal. 

"  One  more  year  of  fighting  and  thirty- 
nine  years  "  not  to  roll  up  the  wire,  but  to 
rebuild  the  cathedrals  and  churches,  the 
colleges  and  universities,  the  halls  of  science, 
the  temples  of  art,  the  mills  for  the  weaving 
of  cotton  and  linen  and  wool,  and  above  all 
for  the  rebuilding  of  the  railways,  the  re- 
construction of  the  canals  and  the  bridges, 
great  and  small.  But  the  most  grievous  loss 
is  the  human  loss.  Think  of  1,500,000 
crippled  heroes  and  ,  poor  wounded  invalids 
in  the  land  of  France  alone  !  Think  of  an- 
other 1,500,000  young  widows,  or  lovers 
and  mothers !  Gone  the  young  men  who 
promised  so  great  things  for  the  French 
essay,  the  French  poem,  for  the  paintings 
159 


Our  British  Allies       • 

and  the  bronzes  !  Dead  the  young  lawyers, 
physicians  and  educators  !  Gone  the  young 
farmers  and  husbandmen  !  Perished  1,000,- 
000  old  people  and  500,000  little  children, 
all  dead  of  heart-break.  The  German  beast 
has  been  in  the  land.  Like  a  wolf  leaping 
into  the  sheepfold  to  tear  the  throats  of  the 
young  lambs  and  the  mother  ewes. 

What !  Thirty -nine  years  more  to  recover 
ruined  France  and  Belgium,  Poland  and 
Rumania  ?  France  will  never  be  the  same 
again.  The  scar  of  the  beast  will  abide. 
That  is  why  no  man  of  large  mind  and 
great  heart  will  ever  make  friends  with  a 
soldier  from  Germany,  will  ever  buy  an 
article  of  German  stamp,  so  long  as  he  lives, 
will  ever  read  another  German  book,  or 
support  another  German  business.  It  is  our 
duty  to  forgive  the  transgressor  who  is 
repentant,  but  it  is  a  crime  to  forget  the  un- 
speakable atrocities,  the  devilish  cruelties  of 
the  German  Kaiser,  the  German  War  Staff 
and  the  German  army,  with  its  10,000,000 
criminals. 

8.     "  Why  Are  We  Outmanned  by  the 

Germans?  " 
Many  thoughtful  men  have  lingered  long 
i6o 


"  Why  Are  We  Outmanned?" 

over  the  despatches  announcing  that  Great 
Britain  called  thirty  thousand  farmers  to  the 
trenches,  thus  threatening  the  loss  of  a  part 
of  her  harvest.  One  of  the  British  editors 
and  statesmen  explains  this  event  by  the 
frank  statement  that  for  the  moment  the 
Allies  are  outmanned,  and  will  be  until 
another  million  Americans  reach  France. 
Many  men  are  puzzled  to  understand  what 
this  means,  but  the  explanation  is  very 
simple.  The  combined  population  of  Ger- 
many, Austria,  Hungary  and  Bulgaria  is  not 
far  from  140,000,000.  To  this  must  be 
added  seventy  millions  of  conquered  and  im- 
pressed peoples  of  Belgium,  Poland,  Ku- 
mania,  with  the  Baltic  provinces  of  Russia, 
Ukraine  and  other  regions.  Over  against 
this  population  stands  the  125,000,000  living 
in  Great  Britain,  France,  Italy,  Canada, 
Australia,  'New  Zealand  and  the  English 
people  of  South  Africa,  and  India,  and  the 
Isles  of  the  Sea.  Concede,  therefore,  that 
the  army  of  six  millions  of  Allies  are  over 
against  six  millions  of  Germans.  Why  are 
we  outmanned  ? 

Back    of   that   British   editor-statesman's 
statement  lies  a  most  dramatic  fact.     Our 
Allies  keep  their  treaties,  and  will  not  use 
i6i 


Our  British  Allies 

German  prisoners  to  fight  against  their  broth- 
ers. Therefore  the  six  million  of  Allies'  sol- 
diers have  no  support  behind  them.  But 
the  Germans  impress  all  conquered  peoples 
and  lifted  into  the  air  if  the  observer  had  a 
glass  powerful  enough,  he  would  behold 
back  of  the  German  six  millions  another  six 
millions  of  impressed  prisoners  and  con- 
quered peoples,  who  support  the  German 
army.  These  men,  driven  forward  by  an 
automatic  pistol  and  the  rifle,  work  within 
half  a  mile  of  the  rear  German  trench. 
They  dig  ditches,  fill  shell  holes,  repair 
roads,  bring  up  burdens,  care  for  the  horses, 
scrub  the  mud  from  the  wagons,  and  the 
slightest  neglect  of  the  task  means  that  they 
are  shot  down  by  the  German  guards.  All 
this  releases  the  German  soldier  from  the 
deadly  work  that  breaks  the  nerve,  and  un- 
fits a  man  to  go  over  the  top.  That  means 
that  the  German  soldier  can  fight  eight 
hours,  and  have  sixteen  for  rest  and  recrea- 
tion. 

But  over  against  this  German  army  fight- 
ing eight  hours,  with  the  deadly  work 
wrought  by  several  million  of  impressed 
servants  and  slaves,  stands  the  Allied  army. 
But  our  men  after  eight  hours  of  active  serv- 
162 


"  Why  Are  We  Outmanned  •?  " 

ice  must  then  begin  to  dig  ditches,  fill  shell 
holes,  repair  bridges,  clean  the  mud  from 
the  wagons,  bring  up  the  munitions,  and 
this  deadly  work  for  eight  hours,  added  to 
their  eight  hours  of  active  service,  means 
only  eight  hours  for  sleep  and  recovery, 
while  the  German  has  sixteen  hours  off  duty 
for  recovery  and  sleep.  The  Allies  keep 
their  treaties,  and  do  not  ask  a  German 
prisoner  to  fight  against  his  brother.  The 
Allies  obey  the  laws  of  right  and  wrong, 
but  the  Ten  Commandments  are  a  great 
handicap  in  time  of  war.  Is  there  any  one 
who  supposes  that  six  million  of  Allied  sol- 
diers, working  sixteen  hours  a  day,  are  as 
fresh  and  as  fit  as  six  million  Germans, 
working  only  eight  hours  a  day  ?  That  is 
why  the  situation  is  so  perilous.  Fortu- 
nately victories  are  not  won  by  muscle  with- 
out but  by  the  soul  within.  The  sense  of 
justice  in  the  heart  lends  a  form  of  omnipo- 
tence to  a  youth.  In  a  moral  universe, 
therefore,  we  must  win.  The  great  problem 
is,  how  to  carry  on  until  we  can  get  another 
million  Americans  across  to  France,  with  full 
equipment,  and  fifty  thousand  aeroplanes. 


163 


"OVER  HERE*' 


VI 


I.     The  Redemption  of  a  Slacker 

OUT  on  the  Ohio  River  there  is  a  large 
steel  town.  During  the  last  few  years 
many  foreigners  who  have  the  Bolsheviki 
spirit  have  crossed  the  ocean  and  found  work 
in  the  great  shops  and  factories.  Little  by 
little  the  foreign  newspapers  have  devel- 
oped the  spirit  that  has  now  ruined  Russia, 
and  is  here  under  the  American  name  of  the 
I.  W.  W.  movement.  In  this  steel  city  was 
an  anarchist,  with  real  power  to  move  the 
mobs.  The  mere  mention  of  the  name  of 
Carnegie  or  Rockefeller  was  to  him  like 
waving  a  red  flag  in  the  face  of  a  bull.  In 
the  evenings  it  was  his  custom  to  climb 
upon  a  box  at  the  corner  of  the  street,  close 
to  a  little  park,  and  tell  his  hearers  that  all 
the  wealth  in  the  rich  man's  house  was 
created  by  the  workman's  muscle.  He  made 
no  allowance  for  the  inventor,  for  the  organ- 
izer, for  the  risks  taken  by  the  man  who 
164 


The  Redemption  of  a  Slacker 

built  a  factory.  A  few  weeks  ago  this  an- 
archist laid  down  a  newspaper,  containing  an 
account  of  the  trial  of  the  I.  W.  "W.  leaders 
in  Chicago.  That  night,  becoming  alarmed, 
lest  he  himself  be  caught  in  the  drag-net,  and 
perhaps  forced  to  enlist  as  an  enemy  alien, 
this  agitator  disappeared,  leaving  behind  him 
his  board  bill,  laundry  bill,  tailor's  bill,  not 
to  mention  many  other  forms  of  indebted- 
ness— a  disappearance  that  led  every  one  of 
his  creditors  to  give  up  any  and  all  faith  in 
the  American  Bolsheviki  movement. 

Now  there  was  a  young  boy  of  about 
twenty-three  who  had  long  been  listening  to 
this  agitator.  "When,  therefore,  the  second 
night  after  the  anarchist's  disappearance 
came,  this  young  man,  who  aspired  himself 
to  be  a  leader  of  the  mob,  climbed  up  on  the 
soap  box,  at  the  corner  of  the  little  park,  and 
began  to  speak  to  the  same  old  crowd. 

"  Think  of  it,  my  friends  !  Just  think  of 
it !  Think  of  some  soldier  coming  in  here  and 
making  me  enlist !  I  have  no  grudge  against 
the  Germans.  I  don't  want  to  kill  them.  My 
forefathers  were  all  German  !  My  name  is 
German.  And  I  am  an  American  all  right, 
all  right!  Still,  I  don't  propose  to  have 
anybody  tell  me  what  I  must  do.  If  I  want 
165 


"  Over  Here  " 

to  enlist,  I  will  enlist,  and  if  I  don't,  I  won't  1 
I'd  like  to  see  some  Government  agent  come 
along  and  grab  me  for  the  draft !  When  he 
comes,  he'll  hear  a  few  things  from  me,  and 
then  some ! " 

At  that  point  a  man  lifted  up  his  hand 
and  said :  "  ]S"ow  you  may  stop  right  there ! " 
Throwing  back  his  coat  collar,  he  showed  a 
little  metal  badge.  Climbing  up  on  the  box, 
the  stranger  took  the  young  anarchist  by  his 
shoulder  and  half  choked  him,  saying :  "  So 
you  want  to  have  the  people  see  some  one 
take  you  to  the  draft  office?  Well,"  said 
the  officer,  "  novv's  the  time  for  them  to  see 
him,  and  I'm  the  man.  And  you  people," 
he  went  on,  "  just  take  a  good  look  at  this 
fellow.  It'll  be  the  last  chance  you're  going 
to  have,  for  he  will  be  in  jail  to-night,  and 
to-morrow  we  will  decide  whether  or  not  he 
has  been  opposing  the  draft.  If  he  has,  he 
stands  a  good  chance  of  being  shot."  Blow- 
ing a  little  whistle,  the  officer  dragged  the 
young  anarchist  to  the  edge  of  the  street, 
half  lifted  and  half  kicked  him  into  the 
police  wagon,  which  soon  disappeared.  The 
enemy  aliens  who  remained  behind  were 
stupefied,  partly  with  astonishment  and 
partly  with  terror.  Aliens  began  to  say, 
i66 


The  Redemption  of  a  Slacker 

"What  will  come  next?"  That  night  a 
number  more  of  pro-Germans  disappeared 
from  this  town  with  its  steel  mills. 

The  next  morning,  at  ten  o'clock,  the  offi- 
cer entered  the  jail.  "  Get  a  move  on  you, 
young  man  !  "  he  said  brusquely,  "  You're 
going  up  to  the  court  to  be  examined  to  see 
whether  you  are  a  slacker  or  a  traitor.  In 
the  one  case  you  will  be  interned  and  in  the 
other  case  you  will  be  hanged  or  shot." 

The  young  anarchist  was  on  his  feet  in  a 
moment.  "  But,  officer,  aren't  you  going  to 
give  me  a  chance  to  enlist  ?  " 

"Young  man,  this  Government  does  not 
want  traitors  to  enlist,  nor  pro-Germans." 

"I  am  not  a  pro-German  this  morning," 
cried  the  excited  man.  "I  have  thought 
the  whole  thing  over  last  night.  I  did  not 
sleep  a  wink,  I  think  this  Government  is 
the  best  government  in  the  world.  And  I 
am  willing  to  fight  for  it." 

The  officer  was  astounded.  "Well,  my 
young  enemy,"  he  exclaimed,  "  a  dungeon 
seems  to  have  had  a  good  effect  upon  your 
mind.  What  has  regenerated  you  ?  Was  it 
the  cold  water  or  the  corn  bread  ?  Or  the 
steel  door  before  your  dungeon  ?  Or  was  it 
the  bad  air  in  your  cell  ?  Or  possibly  it  was 
167 


"  Over  Here  " 

the  fear  of  death,  or  God  Almighty,  or  future 
punishment.     Come  now,  out  with  it !  " 

It  was  a  thoroughly  frightened  boy  who 
stood  half  an  hour  later  in  the  prisoner's 
dock.  "  Give  me  some  book  on  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,"  he  exclaimed 
to  the  judge.  "  And  give  me  a  week  in  which 
to  show  that  I  am  in  earnest,  and  I  will 
then  volunteer."  The  judge  was  very  grave. 
"  Young  man,"  he  said  sternly,  "  any  boy 
that  will  eat  the  bread  of  the  United  States, 
that  will  enjoy  the  liberty  of  this  country, 
and  has  had  all  the  chances  to  climb  to 
place  that  have  come  to  you,  and  refuses  to 
enlist,  has  something  wrong  with  him,  and 
it  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  he  comes 
to  the  judgment  day."  To  this  the  young 
man  made  the  answer  that  he  had  been  lazy, 
careless  and  ignorant ;  that  he  had  allowed 
himself  to  become  the  tool  of  the  runaway 
agitator,  and  then  once  more  he  asked  that 
he  might  have  a  chance  to  enlist.  With  the 
help  of  friends,  the  judge  and  the  draft 
board  finally  let  him  off  and  sent  liim  to  a 
camp  for  three  months'  intensive  training. 
Then  came  the  news  that  bis  company  had 
been  sent  over  seas,  and  within  a  short  time 
thereafter  in  the  list  of  casualties  the  name 
i68 


Slackers  versus  Heroes 

of  this  young  foreigner  appeared.  But  one 
letter  reached  this  country,  and  that  letter 
was  notable  for  this  sentence  :  "  For  the  first 
time  in  my  life  I  have  had  young  Americans 
for  ray  companions.  The  boys  in  my  com- 
pany have  had  a  college  education  and  they 
have  taught  me  bravery,  truth,  self-sacrifice, 
kindness  and  chivalry.  I  have  learned  more 
in  two  months  at  the  camp  than  in  all  the 
rest  of  my  life  put  together.  The  com- 
panionship in  my  company  and  in  my  camp 
have  saved  my  soul."  It  is  this  that  ex- 
plains the  redemption  of  the  slacker. 

2.     Slackers  versus  Heroes 

Going  through  the  long  communication 
trench,  between  the  ruined  city  of  Eheims 
and  an  observation  lookout,  with  its  view  of 
the  German  front  trench,  we  passed  several 
soldiers  digging  an  opening  in  the  soft  white 
marl,  into  a  parallel  trench.  The  captain 
in  charge  called  my  attention  to  a  French 
poilu.  His  hair  was  quite  black,  save  for 
the  half  inch  next  to  the  scalp  and  that  was 
white  as  snow.  If  one  had  lifted  up  his  hair 
and  estimated  his  age  by  the  last  two  inches 
of  the  jet  locks  the  poilu  would  have  been 
169 


"  Over  Here  " 

about  thirty-five,  but  the  hair,  pure  white  at 
the  roots,  and  a  glance  at  his  face  told  us 
that  he  was  fifty-five  to  sixty. 

"  He  passed  inspection,"  said  the  captain, 
"  by  dyeing  his  hair,  and  several  weeks  ago 
he  broke  the  bottle  of  dye.  Now  he  is  half 
scared  to  death  for  fear  he  will  be  thrown 
out,  because  he  is  at  the  beginning  of  old 
age.  Still  I  have  no  better  soldier,  no 
stronger,  braver  man.  But  I  am  hoping 
much  from  a  friend  in  Epernay,  to  whom  I 
sent  for  a  bottle  of  black  hair  dye." 

So  long  as  the  Frenchmen  have  that 
spirit  France  will  never  be  defeated. 

Many  weeks  ago  I  was  in  a  manufacturing 
town  near  Pittsburgh.  The  wind  was  sharp 
and  chill.  All  overcoats  were  turned  up 
at  the  collar.  On  a  box  stood  a  young 
Australian  lieutenant.  His  cheeks  held 
two  fiery  spots.  He  was  telling  the  story 
of  the  second  battle  of  Ypres.  While  he 
talked  you  walked  with  him  the  streets  of 
the  doomed  city,  you  heard  the  crash  of  the 
great  shells  as  they  smashed  through  the 
public  buildings  ;  you  witnessed  the  burning 
of  the  Cloth  Hall  and  shivered  as  the  noble 
structure  fell.  One  laughed  with  him  in  his 
moments  of  humour  and  wept  over  the 
170 


Slackers  versus  Heroes 

sorrows  of  the  refugees.  He  pleaded  with 
the  Welshmen  and  the  Cornishmen,  and  told 
them  that  the  motherland  was  bleeding  to 
death  and  that  now  every  boy  counted.  He 
flogged  his  hearers,  scoffed  at  them,  praised 
them,  wept,  laughed,  reviled,  transformed 
and  finally  conquered  them. 

At  the  close,  shaking  hands  with  him,  lo ! 
he  was  burning  with  fever,  with  skin  hot 
and  dry.  "  Lieutenant,  you  should  be  at  the 
hotel,  in  bed.  You  will  kill  yourself  speak- 
ing in  this  cold  air." 

"  Well,"  he  answered,  "  there  are  plenty 
of  our  boys  who  are  perfectly  sound  who 
will  be  killed  inside  of  three  months.  I  have 
the  t.  b.,  (tuberculosis),  but  I  believe  that 
I  can  pull  through  a  year.  I  have  enlisted 
over  one  hundred  coal  miners  from  Wales 
and  iron-workers  from  Cornwall.  I  am  will- 
ing to  die  for  the  motherland,  after  a 
year  of  t.  b.,  since  my  pals  will  be  dead 
within  three  months  through  bullets.  And 
when  I  die  I  want  to  die  with  the  conscious- 
ness that  I  have  kept  my  manhood." 

I  left  that  poor,  wounded,  half-dead 
young  soldier  with  the  feeling  that  I  had 
been  in  the  presence  of  a  superior  being. 

Over  against  these  heroes  stand  the 
171 


"  Over  Here  " 

slackers.  There  are  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  young  men  from  allied  countries 
who  are  of  draft  age,  who  find  refuge  in  this 
land.  There  are  other  thousands  who  have 
been  exempted,  one  because  he  has  a  flat  in- 
step, another  because  he  has  had  trouble  with 
his  eyes  or  his  teeth ;  or  has  tuberculosis,  in 
its  initial  form,  or  is  a  victim  of  bronchitis. 
Most  of  these  men  owe  it  to  their  country 
and  themselves  to  tear  up  their  exemption 
papers.  They  earn  their  living  in  this  coun- 
try, working  ten  hours  a  day,  but  they  will 
not  work  six  or  eight  hours  a  day  for  Old 
England,  thus  releasing  some  young  man  to 
go  to  the  front. 

The  question  is  not  whether  the  youth  has 
an  exemption  paper.  The  heart  of  the  ques- 
tion is,  Has  he  any  moral  right  to  accept  an 
exemption?  This  war  is  being  fought  by 
untold  thousands  of  soldiers  who  could  ob- 
tain half  a  dozen  exemptions.  They  prefer 
to  run  the  risk  of  death  in  six  months,  to 
looking  after  their  own  hides  and  keeping 
well  away  from  danger  for  the  next  six 
years  or  sixty.  No  one  who  has  been  in  the 
coal  regions  or  in  the  great  mines  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  but  realizes  that  there  are 
an  enormous  number  of  allied  slackers  in 
172 


German  Stupidity  in  Avoiding  the  Draft 

this  country.  They  have  left  their  country 
to  its  dire  peril  at  a  moment  when  Old  Eng- 
land is  bleeding  to  death — when  every  man 
counts  and  when  the  cripples,  the  invalids, 
the  old  men,  the  women,  everybody  who  can 
give  four  hours  or  eight  of  work  a  day 
should  enter  the  great  war  offices  or  com- 
missary departments  and  do  office  work,  and 
thus  release  the  stronger  men  for  their  work 
at  the  front. 

The  time  has  fully  come  when  Americans 
should  ask  themselves  the  question  whether 
or  not  they  have  a  moral  right  to  support 
with  money  that  could  be  far  better  used,  in 
the  war  stamp  purchases  or  Red  Cross  work, 
all  these  slackers  and  cowards,  at  a  time  when 
the  motherland  asks  them  to  throw  away 
their  exemption  papers,  in  an  hour  when 
civilization,  liberty  and  humanity  are  treas- 
ures trembling  in  the  balance. 


3.     German    Stupidity  in  Avoiding   the 
Draft 

Following  the  revolution  of  1848  in  Ger- 
many, multitudes  of  people  fled  from  Prussia 
and  Bavaria,  and  these  fugitives,  settling  in 
the  United  States,  organized  colonies  that 
173 


"  Over  Here  " 

grew  until  there  were  often  one  hundred 
families  in  a  single  community.  Strangely 
enough,  as  the  years  went  on,  these  Germans 
forgot  the  iron  yoke  they  once  had  borne, 
until,  when  many  years  had  passed  by,  it 
came  about  that  time  and  distance  lent  a 
glamour  to  the  landscape  of  the  far-off 
Fatherland.  Occasional  letters  from  their 
relatives  kept  them  in  touch  with  the  old 
German  home.  At  last  they  quite  forgot 
the  militarism,  the  poverty,  the  cruel  limita- 
tions and  the  hypocrisy  of  Germany.  Fa- 
miliarity also  with  the  institutions  of  the 
Eepublic  bred  a  kind  of  contempt.  Through 
the  imagination  Germany  became  an  en- 
chanted land.  When,  therefore,  war  was 
declared  these  German- Americans  came  to- 
gether in  their  clubs,  beer  gardens  and  Ger- 
man churches,  to  pledge  unswerving  fealty 
to  the  Kaiser  and  to  the  militarism  from 
which  once  they  had  fled  as  from  death 
itself. 

Last  summer  brought  the  Government 
draft  to  the  young  men  of  one  of  these  Ger- 
man colonies.  The  week  was  approaching 
when  the  German  boys  must  have  their 
physical  examination.  American  officers, 
American  physicians  and  the  members  of  the 
174 


German  Stupidity  in  Avoiding  the  Draft 

draft  board  were  already  in  session  in  a  cer- 
tain town.  One  Sunday  a  German- American 
physician  appeared  in  that  community. 
That  night  some  twenty  or  more  young  Ger- 
man-Americans met  that  physician.  He 
told  them  plainly  how  deeply  he  sympa- 
thized with  their  unwillingness  to  turn  their 
guns  against  their  own  German  cousins  and 
relatives  in  the  Fatherland.  Out  of  pity  and 
compassion  had  been  born  his  plan  to  save 
their  limbs  and  perhaps  their  lives,  and  also 
to  serve  the  Fatherland  and  the  beloved 
Kaiser.  "  I  have  here,"  said  the  physician, 
"  a  certain  heart  depressant.  It  will  slow 
your  heart  like  the  brake  on  an  automobile. 
It  is  a  simple  coal-oil  product.  It  is  quite 
harmless.  It  was  made  by  the  well-known 
German  firm  of  Baer  &  Company,  chemists, 
and  it  is  so  cheap.  I  shall  see  to  it  that  you 
are  rejected  for  the  draft.  And — think  of 
it ! — only  twenty- five  dollars  !  For  that 
little  sum  I  will  keep  you  from  being 
wounded  or  killed.  You  will  each  one  give 
me  twenty-five  dollars ;  then  I  will  give  you 
this  bottle,  holding  five  grains  for  Monday, 
ten  grains  for  Tuesday,  fifteen  grains  for 
"Wednesday,  twenty  grains  for  Thursday, 
twenty-five  grains  for  Friday,  and  on  Satur- 
i75 


"  Over  Here  " 

day  you  will  be  rejected."  Ten  minutes 
later  the  necromancer  had  juggled  twenty- 
five  dollars  out  of  the  pocket  of  each  newly 
drafted  boy  and  into  his  own.  right-hand 
pocket. 

On  Saturday  these  young  men  appeared 
before  the  draft  board  and  the  Government 
physicians.  All  the  boys  were  in  a  dreadful 
condition  nervously.  Now  the  heart  would 
drop  to  forty,  and  then  at  the  slightest  exer- 
tion run  up  to  two  hundred  and  twenty.  All 
were  dizzy,  nauseated,  yellow  and  green, 
feverish.  But  the  Secret  Service  men  knew 
every  detail  of  what  had  taken  place,  and  all 
the  facts  were  in  the  hands  of  the  draft 
board.     A  certain  farmer's  son,  young  Hein- 

rich  H ,  was  first  examined.    The  United 

States  physician  counted  a  pulse  that  varied 
from  forty  to  two  hundred  and  twenty.  The 
physician  kept  his  face  perfectly  straight. 
"  Marvellous  heart !  Eegular  as  a  clock ! 
Strong  as  the  throbbing  of  a  locomotive. 
Seventy-two  exactly !  Absolutely  normal. 
I  congratulate  you,  young  men,  upon  your 
fine  heart  action.  A  man  is  as  old  as  his 
heart  engine.  A  boy  with  a  heart  like  yours 
ought  to  live  to  be  a  hundred  years  old.  All 
you  need  is  a  change  of  climate.  France 
176 


"  I'm  Working  Now  for  Uncle  Sam  " 

will  do  the  world  for  you.  You  may  need  a 
little  heart  stimulant,  but  I  think  that  noth- 
ing hastens  the  pulse  beat  like  a  few  rifle 
balls  and  bomb  shells  from  Hindenburg.'* 
He  sent  every  one  of  the  twenty  boys  into 
the  service,  but  separated  them,  one  going 
to  Camp  Ayer,  in  Massachusetts ;  one  to 
Camp  Bliss,  in  El  Paso,  Texas,  and  the  rest 
to  camps  in  States  between.  In  one  Middle 
"West  community  a  German  father  and  son 
went  so  far  as  to  deaden  pain  through  co- 
caine and  then  cut  off  the  finger  of  the  right 
hand.  It  is  generally  understood  that  both 
the  father  and  son  are  now  in  two  widely 
separated  penitentiaries,  reflecting  each  in 
his  own  cell  upon  the  folly  of  treason  and 
the  crime  of  becoming  a  traitor  to  the  kind- 
est and  best  Government  that  has  ever  been 
organized  upon  our  earth. 


4.     "I'm     Working     Now    for    Uncle 
Sam" 

The  long  transatlantic  train  came  to  a 
dead  stop  at  the  division  station  in  that 
great  Southwestern  State,  where  one  was 
surrounded  by  sage-brush,  the  sand,  the  dis- 
tant foot-hills  and  the  far-off  mountain  range. 
177 


"  Over  Here  " 

One  of  the  Pullman  cars  showed  signs  of 
a  hot  box,  and  a  moment  later  the  wheel 
burst  into  a  mass  of  flame.  In  the  thirty 
minutes'  wait  for  repairs  I  made  my  way 
into  the  room  where  the  conductors,  engi- 
neers and  firemen  met.  On  a  little  table  I 
found  a  copy  of  the  address  given  before  the 
railroad  men  of  El  Paso,  Texas,  by  Secretary 
McAdoo. 

I  called  the  attention  of  the  different  men 
to  the  address,  to  the  clarity  of  the  reason- 
ing, the  simplicity  of  the  argument,  the 
strength  of  the  appeal  and  the  glowing 
patriotism  that  filled  all  the  pages.  The 
pamphlet  had  been  worn  by  much  reading. 
It  was  covered  with  the  black  finger  prints 
of  busy  men  who  had  been  working  around 
the  locomotives  and  tenders. 

Plainly  Mr.  McAdoo's  speech  had  made 
a  profound  impression  upon  these  em- 
ployees. Having  first  of  all  called  the 
attention  of  the  large  group  of  men  to  the 
creative  work  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  the 
first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  who  struck, 
as  Daniel  Webster  said,  "the  dry  rock  of 
national  credit  and  abundant  streams  of 
revenue  gushed  forth,"  I  asked  these  men 
whether  there  had  been  in  one  hundred  and 
178 


"  I'm  Working  Now  for  Uncle  Sam  " 

twenty-five  years  any  forward  movement  in 
finance  that  was  comparable  to  the  benefits 
derived  from  the  national  reserve  bank  law, 
under  Secretary  McAdoo,  a  law  that  not  only 
had  prevented  a  panic  in  this  country  during 
this  war,  but  had  raised  more  billions  within 
four  years  than  the  total  cost  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  first  century  of  our  existence. 

Late  that  afternoon,  on  the  train,  the  con- 
ductor sought  me  out.  In  the  midst  of  the 
discussion  he  drew  out  a  roll  of  bills.  He 
told  me  that  in  those  mountain  towns  many 
of  the  ranchers  did  not  buy  their  tickets  at 
the  stations. 

To  use  his  expression,  "  They  had  it  in  for 
the  railroads."  "  They  pay  me  their  fare  in 
cash,  and  when  I  give  them  the  receipt  they 
tear  up  the  receipt  and  wink  at  me.  I  al- 
ways feel,"  he  said,  "  like  resenting  these 
actions,  because  I  know  that  they  are  incite- 
ments to  petty  theft,  but  now,"  he  said,  "  I 
have  my  chance.  I  always  tell  them,"  said 
the  conductor,  "  that  money  belongs  to 
Uncle  Sam.  He  runs  this  railroad,  Uncle 
Sam  takes  this  money. 

"  With  it  he  will  buy  guns  for  the  Ameri- 
can boys  at  the  front  and  build  ships  to 
carry  food  that  will  feed  these  soldiers.  I 
179 


"  Over  Here  " 

would  rather  lose  that  right  arm  than  take 
one  penny  of  money  that  belongs  to  Uncle 
Sam.  This  is  my  job  to  run  this  train,  I 
tell  my  crew  every  day  that  we  must  make 
the  coal  produce  every  possible  pound  of 
steam,  that  every  waste  must  be  saved,  and 
every  pound  of  energy  used  and  that  we  must 
run  this  train  so  as  to  help  win  this  war." 

From  morning  till  night  I  found  that  con- 
ductor was  preaching  that  sentiment.  His 
words  were  directly  traceable  to  the  words 
of  Secretary  McAdoo  at  El  Paso,  Texas. 
That  single  speech  transformed  these  men. 

Measured  by  the  results — truth  that  trans- 
forms life  and  changes  conduct  and  character 
— that  was  a  truly  great  speech.  We  must 
all  hope  much  from  this  new  sense  of  devo- 
tion to  the  interests  of  Uncle  Sam. 

5.     The  German  Farmer's  Debt  to  the 
United  States 

There  are  literally  thousands  of  small 
German  colonies  in  different  parts  of  this 
country.  In  one  far  distant  State  is  a  com- 
munity settled  by  about  two  hundred  Ger- 
man families,  who  took  up  the  land  im- 
mediately after  the  Civil  War. 

By  some  good  fortune  they  settled  in 
180 


The  German  Farmer's  Debt 

what  is  now  one  of  the  very  richest  sections 
in  the  United  States.  Land  that  they  bought 
for  $1.25  an  acre  is  now  worth  ^250  an  acre. 
In  that  community  there  are  two  German 
churches. 

Both  pastors  came  from  Germany,  both 
were  educated  in  German  colleges,  both  read 
German  newspapers  and  both  insist  upon 
carrying  on  a  colloquial  German  school, 
with  German  teachers,  German  text-books 
and  German  standards. 

Little  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon 
these  farmers  during  the  First  Liberty  Loan. 
By  many  devices  they  succeeded  in  getting 
their  boys  away  before  the  draft  registra- 
tion. While  it  was  never  proved  technically 
that  they  had  all  pledged  themselves  not  to 
oppose  Germany,  morally  this  is  known  to 
be  the  fact. 

October  of  1917  came  and  the  Second 
Liberty  Loan  was  on.  One  day  all  these 
farmers  received  a  printed  card,  saying  there 
would  be  a  meeting  on  Monday  night,  in 
connection  with  the  Second  Liberty  Loan. 
"I  find  you  made  no  subscription  whatso- 
ever to  the  First  Liberty  Loan.  There  are 
reasons  why  I  think  it  best  for  me  to  advise 
you  to  attend  this  meeting." 
i8i 


''  Over  Here  " 

Every  German  farmer  read  that  card 
several  times.  Who  was  this  stranger  who 
was  coming  into  the  community  ?  Was  he 
a  Secret  Service  man  ?  How  did  he  find  out 
that  there  had  been  a  secret  meeting  of  the 
Germans  immediately  after  war  had  been  de- 
clared against  Germany?  Each  farmer  began 
to  ask  himself :  "  Has  any  one  quoted  me  ?  " 
Each  one  decided  to  attend  that  meeting. 

The  meeting  began  at  precisely  seven 
o'clock.  Only  one  man  who  had  received 
the  notice  was  absent,  and  his  son  brought  a 
message  concerning  his  father's  absence. 
The  stranger  ai*ose  in  his  place,  but  left  it 
uncertain  as  to  whether  he  was  a  Secret 
Service  man,  a  banker  or  a  patriot  interested 
in  his  country.  He  began  with  substantially 
these  words : 

"Men,  you  are  all  German- Americans. 
I  find  that  not  one  of  you  subscribed  to  the 
First  Liberty  Loan.  You  came  to  this 
country  poor  men.  This  Government  sold 
you  Government  land  for  from  a  dollar  and 
a  quarter  to  two  dollars  and  a  half  an  acre. 
But  you  seem  to  have  forgotten  one  thing. 
Your  title  deed  to  your  farm  rests  upon  your 
loyalty  as  citizens  of  the  Republic.  When- 
ever you  refuse  to  support  the  people  of  the 
182 


The  German  Farmer's  Debt 

Republio  you  have  by  your  own  act  annulled 
the  title  deed  of  your  land. 

"If  you  refuse  to  support  your  Govern- 
ment in  this  war,  you  are  a  traitor,  and 
when  this  is  proved  you  will  be  shot.  If 
secretly  you  have  been  sending  money  to 
the  Kaiser  to  buy  guns  with  which  to  kill 
American  boys  you  have  forfeited  the  title 
deed  to  your  farm.  Your  property  has  be- 
come again  the  possession  of  the  Government 
and  people  of  the  United  States." 

By  this  time  these  farmers  had  their 
mouths  open,  and  their  faces  became  tense 
and  alarmed.  "When  his  words  had  had 
time  to  sink  in,  the  stranger  went  on :  "I 
have  here  a  statement  as  to  the  number  of 
acres  in  each  farm  owned  by  each  man  in 
this  room.     The  first  man's  name  is  Hein- 

rich ;  you  own  320  acres  of  land.     It 

is  worth  at  least  ^^75,000.  There  is  no 
mortgage  on  this  farm.  Heinrich,  I  think 
you  had  better  buy  ^2,500  worth  of  Liberty 
Bonds.  I  am  simply  advising  with  you  as  a 
friend.  I  have  made  out  an  application  for 
you,  and  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  sign  it. 

"  My  advice  to  every  one  of  you  is  that 
you  buy  from  three  to  five  per  cent,  of  the 
value  of  your  farm.  I  want  to  say  inciden- 
183 


"  Over  Here  " 

tally  that  I  trust  that  there  will  never  again 
be  held  a  secret  meeting  of  the  Germans  in 
this  room  to  discuss  the  best  way  to  avoid 
supporting  the  United  States  Government  in 
this  war  against  Germany,  and  how  you  can 
best  help  the  Kaiser." 

That  little  sentence  worked  like  magic. 
Every  farmer  in  the  room  rose  to  his  feet  in 
his  anxiety  to  rush  forward  to  the  table. 
Men  literally  struggled  to  see  who  should 
sign  up  first.  Their  enthusiasm  for  the 
United  States  Government  was  as  boundless 
as  it  was  sudden  in  its  manifestation. 

Remember  that  there  were  only  two  hun- 
dred farmers  in  the  room.  And  yet  there 
are  the  best  of  reasons  for  believing  that  the 
men  in  that  room  bought  that  night  nearly 
;^200,000  worth  of  Liberty  Bonds. 

6.    "  Sharper  Than  a  Serpent's  Tooth  "  Is 
an  Ungrateful  Immigrant 

One  of  the  things  that  no  patriot  can  ever 
understand  is  the  ingratitude  of  the  Germans 
who  fled  from  the  Fatherland  to  escape  Ger- 
man militarism  and  autocracy. 

Lecturing  in  a  Western  State,  I  met  a 
banker  who  had  returned  from  a  school- 
house  in  a  rural  district  where  he  had  been 
184 


"  Sharper  Than  a  Serpent's  Tooth  " 

talking  about  the  Liberty  Bonds  to  a  Ger- 
man audience.  One  old  German  refused  to 
attend  this  meeting.  He  was  very  bitter  in 
his  attacks  upon  our  Government.  He  had 
made  no  subscription  to  the  first  two  Liberty 
Loans ;  he  had  refused  to  help  in  the  cam- 
paign for  the  Red  Cross  Fund ;  he  insisted 
that  he  paid  his  taxes  and  that  was  all  that 
the  Government  had  any  right  to  demand 
from  him. 

He  went  one  step  further:  The  old  man 
said  that  he  had  not  read  a  single  American 
newspaper  since  the  war  began,  and  that 
nothing  but  a  German  newspaper  should 
cross  his  threshold  until  the  war  ended. 
Not  until  that  banker  descended  upon  this 
pro-German  with  the  indignation  of  an  out- 
raged patriot  did  the  rich  old  farmer  capit- 
ulate. 

The  story  of  that  German  is  typical.  He 
came  to  this  country  about  1859.  "When  the 
homestead  act  was  passed  he  received  from 
the  United  States  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  land  in  the  very  centre  of  one  of 
the  richest  States  in  this  Union,  and  his  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acre  farm  is  now  worth 
about  $100,000. 

When  he  ran  away  from  Germany  he 
185 


"  Over  Here  " 

was  receiving  twenty  cents  a  day.  He  rose 
at  daybreak,  cleaned  stables,  milked  cows, 
toiled  in  the  field,  began  his  milking  after 
dark,  worked  sixteen  hours  a  day,  had  noth- 
ing to  eat  except  what  could  not  be  sold  by 
his  employer.  He  was  a  German  plebeian, 
with  no  chance  ever  to  improve  his  condi- 
tion. He  was  ignorant,  stupid,  a  mere  beast 
of  burden. 

So  the  German  boy  slipped  across  the  line 
into  Holland,  came  steerage  to  this  country, 
slept  among  the  rats  of  the  ship,  but  the 
people  of  the  United  States  welcomed  that 
miserable  refugee.  The  American  school, 
without  any  charge,  gave  him  four  months' 
instruction  every  winter  until  he  was  twenty. 
The  American  people  gave  him  a  farm  as 
a  free  gift.  This  Kepublic  educated  his  chil- 
dren, his  grandchildren  and  enriched  them 
with  land,  office,  honours  and  wealth.  Once 
he  hated  autocracy  and  militarism  in  the 
Fatherland — but  in  1918  he  loved  them. 

No  sooner  did  the  Kaiser  invade  Belgium 
and  commit  rape  upon  that  land  than  this 
German  farmer  passed  through  a  revulsion. 
"Whatever  the  Kaiser  did  was  right.  If 
Germany  did  a  thing  it  was  proper.  Ger- 
many had  a  right  to  break  her  solemn 
1 86 


"  Sharper  Than  a  Serpent's  Tooth  " 

treaties ;  Germany  had  a  right  to  sink  the 
Zusitania/  if  Germany  was  out  of  iron  ore 
she  had  a  right  to  invade  France  and  steal 
her  iron  mines.  "What  had  been  crimes  sud- 
denly became  virtues. 

Fleeing  from  the  German  tyrant  in  1859, 
in  1918  the  old  farmer  turned  upon  the 
United  States  that  had  befriended  him. 

"  If  I  have  to  make  my  choice,  I  choose 
the  Kaiser." 

Mentally,  it  seems  absurd.  Morally,  his 
was  a  monstrous  position.  But  blood  was 
thicker  than  water.  Gratitude  had  no  place 
in  his  heart. 

This  old  German  regarded  the  gift  of  his 
farm  by  our  people  as  a  sign  of  weakness. 
The  Republic  gave  him  a  homestead  because 
he  was  a  superior  man.  He  actually  had  a 
belief  that  Germany  would  soon  overrun  the 
world ;  that  the  Kaiser  would  soon  be  en- 
throned in  Washington  ;  that  some  German 
in  Iowa  would  supersede  the  Government  in 
Des  Moines,  and  he  was  simply  getting  ready, 
having  made  friends  with  the  Kaiser's  Gov- 
ernment, to  receive  reward  when  the  United 
States  became  a  German  colony. 

Who  can  explain  the  obsession  ? 

It  is  clear  that  the  German- Americans  had 
187 


"  Over  Here  " 

been  drilled  for  forty  years  through  their 
German  newspapers  in  these  ideas.  Little 
by  little  they  have  been  alienated  from  the 
institutions  of  the  Republic.  Slowly  they 
have  been  led  to  believe  that  Berlin  is  soon 
to  be  a  world  capital  and  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
the  world  emperor,  while  only  Germans 
shall  be  allowed  in  this  country  to  hold 
office  or  land,  while  all  Americans  become 
tenants  and  servitors  thereto. 

Plainly  this  is  what  Siebert  meant  in  his 
book,  published  five  years  ago  in  Berlin : 

"  When  we  have  reached  our  goal  Ger- 
many must  see  to  it  that  no  race  save  the 
German  race  can  have  a  title  deed  in  land 
or  carry  weapons,  just  as  in  the  first  world 
empire  no  one  but  a  Roman  was  allowed  to 
own  land  or  have  a  sword  or  spear." 

7.     In  Praise  of  Our  Secret  Service 

Of  necessity  our  Secret  Service  work  is 
carried  on  in  silence  and  without  blare  of 
trumpets.  The  achievements  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Justice  cannot  be  proclaimed  from 
the  housetops.  Everybody  knows  some- 
thing about  the  crimes  committed  by  the 
German  agents.  These  spies,  loyal  with 
their  lips,  have  in  their  hearts  plotted  in- 
188 


In  Praise  of  Our  Secret  Service 

numerable  crimes  against  our  Government. 
They  have  dynamited  our  factories  and 
warehouses ;  they  have  burned  shops  and 
planted  bombs  on  ships ;  they  have  thrown 
trains  from  the  track ;  they  have  poisoned 
the  horses  and  mules  upon  the  transports  en 
route  to  France ;  they  have  fouled  the 
springs  of  knowledge  through  their  hired 
reporters ;  with  all  the  cunning  developed  by 
long  practice,  they  have  spread  their  insidious 
and  perilous  influences  into  the  remotest 
regions  of  the  land.  But  over  against  these 
spies  and  secret  agents  have  stood  the 
United  States  Secret  Service  men,  and  with 
everything  in  favour  of  the  German  plotter, 
our  defenders  have  beaten  the  German  at 
his  own  game. 

War  was  declared  against  Germany  on 
April  6,  1917.  One  Sunday  night  two  or 
three  weeks  later  a  large  company  of  Ger- 
man-Americans belonging  to  the  secret  Ger- 
man league  met  in  their  accustomed  place  of 
assembly.  There  were  several  hundred  Ger- 
mans present,  but  among  them  were  three 
Secret  Service  men.  The  German  lawyer 
who  opened  the  meeting  was  very  bitter. 
Having  made  certain  that  only  German 
sympathizers  were  present,  he  went  on  to 
189 


"  Over  Here  " 

say  that  the  occasion  of  this  war  could  be 
traced  to  Wall  Street.  Certain  rich  bankers 
and  American  plutocrats  had  loaned  perhaps 
a  billion  dollars  to  England.  Since  the  war 
was  going  against  England,  these  rich  men 
were  afraid  that  they  would  lose  their  invest- 
ment. In  their  emergency  they  forced  war 
upon  Congress.  The  speech  was  clever, 
specious,  cunning,  shrewdly  calculated  to  stir 
up  passion.  And  the  speech  was  applauded 
to  the  echo.  The  second  speaker  made  a  no 
less  skillful  appeal  to  the  prejudices  of  the 
members  of  the  secret  German-American 
league.  Since  the  war  was  a  money  war, 
originated  by  Wall  Street,  the  Government 
could  be  defeated  as  to  its  plans  only  by 
money.  Therefore,  every  member  of  the 
league  must  make  his  contribution ;  no  one 
present  but  must  give  at  least  ten  dollars. 
And,  he  added,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it 
was  Sunday  night  and  that  some  might  be 
without  money,  and  since  no  checks  could  be 
accepted,  there  were  several  German  bankers 
present,  who  would  be  glad  to  advance 
money  to  the  members  who  wished  to  make 
cash  contributions.  The  Germans  had  pro- 
vided in  advance  against  every  possible 
emergency. 

190 


In  Praise  of  Our  Secret  Service 

Then  came  the  opportunity  for  the  Secret 
Service  men.  The  first  one  arose  and  began 
with  an  apology  for  a  German  brogue  that 
in  reality  he  was  assuming.  He  spared  no 
words  in  praising  the  first  two  speakers. 
"  What  a  wonderful  man  was  the  Kaiser ! 
What  victories  von  Hindenburg  had 
achieved !  The  Fatherland  was  standing 
with  back  against  the  wall.  How  wicked  a 
nation  was  France,  and  Poland !  What  a 
black  heart  England  had ! "  He  pictured 
Germany  as  a  lamb  with  fleece  as  white  as 
snow,  and  a  huge  Belgian  wolf  jumping  at 
the  lamb's  tender  throat.  "  What  an  ambi- 
tious man  was  President  Wilson.  How 
eagerly  had  Congress  waited  until  Germany 
was  weak,  and  then  rushed  in  to  grab  the 
fruits  of  war !  "  When  this  man  sat  down 
his  hearers  were  in  a  state  of  rapturous  up- 
heaval. But  scarcely  had  his  voice  ceased 
echoing  in  the  air  when  the  second  Secret 
Service  man  arose.  Having  complimented 
the  first  two  speeches  by  the  German  plot- 
ters, he  said  that  he  thought  he  represented 
the  members  in  expressing  the  judgment  that 
the  third  speaker  had  made  a  speech  that 
was  unrivalled  in  its  statement  as  to  the  duty 
of  the  members  toward  the  Kaiser  and  the 
191 


"  Over  Here  " 

beloved  Fatherland.  The  second  Secret 
Service  man,  therefore,  moved  that  it  be  the 
sense  of  the  meeting  that  the  member  who 
had  just  spoken  be  made  secretary  of  the 
meeting,  be  custodian  of  the  funds  just  con- 
tributed. In  five  minutes  he  had  all  the 
secrets  of  the  meeting  safely  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  the  first  Secret  Service  man.  At 
this  point  the  third  representative  of  the 
Government  arose  and  nominated  the  second 
Secret  Service  speaker,  who  had  just  taken 
his  seat,  as  teller  to  count  the  funds,  and  in 
recognition  of  this  man's  gifts  the  teller  im- 
mediately afterwards  appointed  the  third 
Secret  Service  man  assistant  teller.  During 
the  next  three  hours,  in  the  secrecy  of  their 
own  meeting,  over  twenty  prosperous  and 
influential  Germans  committed  themselves 
against  this  Government. 

About  midnight  the  secretary  and  the  two 
tellers  turned  over  to  the  two  Germans  who 
had  made  the  two  big  speeches  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  meeting  the  entire  collection, 
which  amounted  to  thousands  of  dollars. 
But  at  half -past  twelve,  as  these  two  Ger- 
mans were  entering  their  hotel,  four  Secret 
Service  men  tapped  them  on  the  shoulder 
and  promptly  relieved  them  of  the  afore- 
192 


In  Praise  of  Our  Secret  Service 

mentioned  thousands.  One  of  these  men  is 
now  working  out  his  sentence  in  a  Southern 
penitentiary  and  the  other  in  a  Western 
penitentiary.  Their  sentences  were  for 
twenty-eight  years.  The  other  men  who 
defended  Germany  and  attacked  the  United 
States  are  serving  terms — some  long  and 
some  short.  It  is  a  proverb  that  the  wicked 
flee  when  no  man  pursueth.  But  Dr.  Park- 
hurst  coined  a  striking  sentence  when  he 
added :  "  The  wicked  man  makes  better 
time  in  fleeing  when  the  righteous  Secret 
Service  man  pursues  him  with  a  sharp  stick." 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


193 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    000  848  734 


